Outcome of VATS Lobectomy for Elderly Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Propensity Score-Matched Study

To analyze the short-term and long-term outcome of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

105 patients aged ≥75 years with resected non-small cell lung cancer were matched with 105 younger patients by propensity score. Survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. The cumulative incidence functions of conditional survival rate according to the age of the patients were calculated by competing risk analysis.

patients ≥75 years was associated with higher postoperative complication rate (p <0.001), but similar perioperative death rate (p = 0.006). Patients ≥75 years were less likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy (p <0.001). The 5-year overall survival rates were 54.6% for patients ≥75 years and 74.1% for patients <75 years (p = 0.001). No difference was seen in disease-free survival rate (59.5% vs. 71.9% respectively = 0.117). The cumulative incidence functions of 5-year cancer-specific death were similar between the two groups (28.7% vs. 24.6% respectively, p = 0.106). The cumulative incidence functions of 5-year non-cancer-specific death was significantly higher in the elderly group (18.7% vs. 1.0%, p <0.001).

VATS lobectomy for non-small-cell lung cancer in patients ≥75 years were feasible with increased morbidity but similar mortality. The resected elderly patients were more frequently associated with non-cancer-specific death.