Abstract. The syndrome of combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) has been characterized by severely impaired gas exchange and poor survival. However, the clinical features of patients with lung cancer plus CPFE have remained elusive. The present study performed a retrospective analysis to examine the clinical characteristics and outcome of surgically resected patients with lung cancer plus CPFE. Among 831 patients with primary lung cancer who underwent surgical resection, 23 patients (2.8%) were diagnosed with CPFE and 9 patients (1.1%) with solely idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Thirty-five patients were stratified as the solely emphysema group with adjustment of the pathological stage. The clinicopathological characteristics of patients in the CPFE group and their outcomes were evaluated and compared with those with the solely IPF or solely emphysema groups. Within the CPFE group, no significant differences in survival between patients with post-operative acute exacerbation (AE; n=3) and those without AE (n=20) were noted; however, in the solely IPF group, patients with post-operative AE (n=4) had a significantly shorter survival than those without AE (n=5; P=0.022). The 5-year survival rate of patients in the CPFE, solely IPF and solely emphysema groups was 22, 22 and 58%, respectively. Furthermore, the CPFE and solely IPF groups showed a significantly shorter survival than the solely emphysema group (P=0.001 and 0.011, respectively). In conclusion, surgically resected lung cancer patients with CPFE had poor survival, which was, in contrast to that of lung cancer patients with solely IPF, not affected by AE.
IntroductionThe syndrome of combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) has been suggested to be a clinically important phenotype of pulmonary fibrosis (1). Cottin et al (1) defined CPFE as a distinct condition, with characteristic features in the chest computed tomography (CT) image that include emphysema in the upper pulmonary region concomitant with parenchymal fibrosis in the lower region. The syndrome is characterized by sub-normal spirometry, severely impaired gas exchange, high prevalence of pulmonary hypertension and poor survival (2-4). Mejía et al (3) reported that survival of CPFE patients was poorer compared with that of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) alone and that pulmonary hypertension in CPFE patients was an independent predictor of mortality. Previous studies have indicated that CPFE patients have a significantly increased risk of lung cancer compared with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or IPF alone (1,4,5). Post-operative acute exacerbation (AE) of interstitial lung disease in patients with lung cancer is associated with a high mortality rate (43.9%) (6). However, the clinical features and prognosis of patients with lung cancer and CPFE have remained elusive. The present study performed a retrospective analysis to determine the prevalence, clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with surgically resected lung canc...