[Safety and long-term outcome of sleeve lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer]

Pneumonectomy has been long term used as the standard surgical procedure for central type non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Sleeve lobectomy has been performed in a small number of patients meeting the indications. This study was to compare the 5-year survival rate, operation related complications and mortality of sleeve lobectomy with pneumonectomy for NSCLC, and evaluate sleeve lobectomy in the surgical treatment for NSCLC.

Ninety-three patients with NSCLC undergoing sleeve lobectomy (group A) and 571 patients with NSCLC undergoing pneumonectomy (group B) from January 1997 to December 2007 in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center were reviewed. The 5-year survival rate, operation related complications and mortality between the two groups were analyzed.

The overall 5-year survival for group A and group B were 42.0% and 31.5%, respectively (P=0.015). In the subgroup analysis, the 5-year survival of N0 (P=0.007) and N1 (P=0.025) patients were significant higher in group A than in group B, while the survival were not significantly different between N2 patients (P=0.073). The 5-year survival rates for bronchial and pulmonary arterial sleeve resection (the subset of group A) and pneumonectomy were not significantly different (P=0.092). There was no significant difference in local recurrences between the groups (P=0.821). The postoperative complication rates were 11.8% in group A and 20.7% in group B (P=0.046). There was no statistically significant difference in mortality between the two groups (P=0.259).

The operative safety and long term efficacy of sleeve lobectomy are superior to pneumonectomy for NSCLC.