Early Postoperative Complications Following Extensive Lung Surgery

Background: Extensive surgical procedures play a key role in treatment of various lung diseases. Nevertheless, these complex procedures are associated with a high risk of early postoperative complications.

Objective: To evaluate outcomes of the early postoperative period in patients with various lung diseases and determine risk factors for postoperative complications.

Material and methods: We analyzed postoperative complications in 377 patients who underwent extensive lung surgery. The mean age was 45.7 ± 5.2 years. The majority of patients (56.0%) had malignant or benign lung tumors. Lobectomy was the most common type of surgery. Pneumonectomy accounted for 26.5%.

Results: The overall rate of cardiovascular complications was 8.2%. The highest number of complications was observed after right-sided pneumonectomy (21.7%). Respiratory complications after right-sided pneumonectomy accounted for 34.8%. Lobectomy and bilobectomy had lower rates of complications (4.4% and 6.3%, respectively). The highest number of systemic complications was also recorded after right-sided pneumonectomy (23.9%), whereas lobectomy had a lower risk (4.4%). Patients with primary lung tumors had significantly more complications (32.2%) compared with patients without cancer (10.8%). The main risk factors were male gender (odds ratio [OR], 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2; P = .032), age ≥60 years (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.5-2.6; P = .001), smoking (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.5; P = .019), C-reactive protein level >3 mg/dL (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1-2.7; P = .015) and forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration (FEV1) <60% (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2; P = .042), surgery duration ≥180 minutes (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.3; P = .002), and anesthesia without additional epidural analgesia (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-2.1; P = .007).

Conclusions: The complication rate after extensive lung surgery was 22.8%, with the highest rate after right-sided pneumonectomy (4.8%). Respiratory complications predominated (14.1%): hydrothorax/pneumothorax (5.0%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (4.2%), pneumonia (2.9%), and ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis (2.1%). The main risk factors were male gender, age ≥60 years, smoking, FEV1 <60%, long surgery, no epidural analgesia, and high crystalloid infusion rate.

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