[Thoracic surgery and co-morbid patients]

Patients undergoing lung resection are often active or former smokers who have chronic disease related to tobacco (coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive bronchitis, arteritis of the inferior limbs…). Those co-morbidities increase the operative risk for surgery in which morbi-mortality is relevant. On top of this, we are witnessing an increasing number of non-small cell lung cancers in an aging population that might show signs of frailty. The challenge for the surgeon is to identify early those co-morbid and/or frail patients by using predictive scores like Thoracoscore, mFI (modified frailty index) or MSK-F1 (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Frailty Index). Screening for those high-risk patients implies adapting surgical management through a multidisciplinary approach. That is the objective of co-managment, which allows geriatricians and surgeons to collaborate, or enhanced recovery after surgery which is more accessible to all group ages. The objective of this article is to review the management of co-morbid patients in thoracic surgery, by detailing certain predictive scores available and the multidisciplinary approaches developed to treat the patients screened.