[Combined resections in the surgery of lung cancer]

Operations were performed on 3,313 patients for lung carcinoma in the Department of Surgery of the Lungs and Mediastinum of the National Research Center of Surgery, AMS USSR, from 1963 till 1.01.90. Among these patients 263 (7.9%) were treated by combined operations (resection of the lung together with part of the chest wall, trachea and its bifurcation, pericardium, diaphragm, superior vena cava, pulmonary artery, aorta, and atrium, and also with removal of metastatic lymph nodes of the contralateral lung). Three types of combined resections were carried out--vasculo-atrial, tracheo-bronchial, and parieto-diaphragmatic. Postoperative complications developed in 38.6% of patients. Intraoperative mortality was 1.5%, 13.9% of patients died after the operation. More than 5 years survived 21.8% of patients who underwent operation, more than 10 years 10.2%, and more than 15 years 5.6% of patients.