Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2007; 55 - P_114
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-967669

Results of lobectomy and pneumectomy in patients with COPD and/or coronary disease

M Albert 1, N Staudte 1, M Breuer 1, K Kühne 1, JF Gummert 1, UFW Franke 1
  • 1Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Klinik für Herz- und Thoraxchirurgie, Jena, Germany

The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the coronary artery disease are considered to be the dominant risk factors in anatomical lung resections.

At our hospital we performed a total of 81 lobectomies, 18 bi-lobectomies and 1 pneumectomy at 78 male and 22 female patients. The mean age was 63.6 years. Preoperative a relevant COPD was known in 46 patients (40 male, 6 female). Eleven of these patients had a FEV1 <1.5l. A coronary artery disease had 25 patients and 9 patients of them a myocardial infarction in the history.

The overall mortality rate was 6%. Four patients died due to multi-organ failure after massive gastro-intestinal bleeding or postoperative sepsis and two patients with acute right heart failure. One patient with unknown coronary disease survived an acute myocardial infarction. The mortality rate was 4% for the COPD patients (n=2) as well as for the coronary disease patients, respectively.

Neither the coronary artery disease nor the COPD caused a significantly increased risk for lung resections. In special cases even a severe limited FEV1 might allow an anatomical lung resection with acceptable risk.