Simultaneous resection of pulmonary tumor following cardiovascular surgery

A pulmonary tumor is occasionally detected on a chest computed tomography (CT) scan before cardiovascular surgery.

In this study, we examined clinical courses of patients who had undergone the simultaneous resection of a pulmonary tumor following cardiovascular surgery.

From 2008 to 2013, 18 patients (13 men and 5 women) with a median age of 69.8 years underwent the wedge pulmonary resection for a lung tumor through a median thoracotomy following cardiovascular surgery in our hospital. Cardiovascular surgeries consisted of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in six patients, aortic valve replacement and/or mitral valve plasty in 10 patients, total arch replacement in 10 patients and descending aorta replacement in 10 patients.

No complications associated with pulmonary resections were observed. Pathological examination revealed that 15 patients (83.3%) were diagnosed with lung cancers including 13 adenocarcinomas and two squamous cell carcinomas, with the clinical stages of 1A in 13 patients, 2A in one patient and 2B in one patient. Among them, five patients received the radical pulmonary resection subsequently, whereas 10 patients were unable to receive it due to their poor cardiopulmonary function. Kaplan-Meier analysis of patients with lung cancer revealed that the 5-year survival rate and progression-free survival (PFS) rate after 3 years from the surgery were 46.2% and 73.8%, respectively.

The simultaneous resection of pulmonary tumor following cardiovascular surgery is safely performed, and is useful for the pathological diagnosis of the tumor. Further studies are warranted, however, this procedure may contribute to controlling the progression of lung cancer in patients with cardiovascular disease with comorbidities.