Surgery for bronchiectasis: The effect of morphological types to prognosis

Although the incidence has declined over the past years in societies with high socioeconomic status, bronchiectasis is still an important health problem in our country.

To review and present our cases undergoing surgery for bronchiectasis in the past 12 years and their early and late term postoperative outcomes and our experience in bronchiectasis surgery and the effect of morphological type on the prognosis.

The medical records of 62 cases undergoing surgical resection for bronchiectasis in the Clinics of Thoracic and Pediatric Surgery were evaluated retrospectively. The disease was on the left in 33 cases, on the right in 26 and bilateral in three cases. The most common surgical procedure was lobectomy. Forty one patients underwent pneumonectomy, lobectomy and complete resection including bilobectomy. Twenty-one (33.87%) cases underwent incomplete resection, of whom 11 (17.74%) underwent segmentectomy and 10 (16.13%) underwent lobectomy + segmentectomy.

It was found that the rate of being asymptomatic was significantly higher in patients undergoing complete resection compared to those undergoing incomplete resection. Spirometric respiratory function tests were performed to assess the relationship between morphological type and the severity of disease. All parameters of respiratory function were worse in the saccular type and FEV(1)/FVC showed a worse obstructive deterioration in the saccular type compared to the tubular type.

The success rate of the procedure increases with complete resection of the involved region. The morphological type is more important than the number and extension of the involved segments in showing the disease severity.