Original articleGeneral thoracicQuality of Life Before and After Major Lung Resection for Lung Cancer: A Prospective Follow-Up Analysis
Section snippets
Population
One hundred ninety-one consecutive patients underwent major lung resection for nonsmall-cell lung cancer at our unit from July 2004 through September 2006 and were prospectively enrolled in this study. The study was approved by the local Institutional Review Board of the hospital, and all patients gave their informed consent to participate in the study. Postoperative early mortality was 2.6% (5 cases). Of the 186 patients surviving the operation, a total of 156 patients had complete
Results
The characteristics of the patients enrolled in the study are shown in Table 1. Twenty-two patients were treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy before operation. These patients had a similar preoperative MCS score (47.5 versus 46.8, p = 0.7), but significantly lower PCS score (46.3 versus 51.8, p = 0.003) compared with those not treated.
Figure 1 shows the box plot of the PCS and MCS scores at different evaluation periods. In particular, compared with preoperative values, the PCS was significantly
Comment
The patients’ perspective about the surgical risk of lung resection may differ from that of the surgeons. What patients fear most is not an increased risk of perioperative major morbidity or mortality, but to be left physically and mentally handicapped and not be able anymore to resume an acceptable daily lifestyle [1]. Therefore, reliable information about the anticipated residual QOL should always complement the traditional data concerning early outcome and long-term survival whenever
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2019, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery