Less than lobar resections for bronchogenic carcinoma

We performed less than lobar resections for peripheral clinical Stage I primary lung cancers on 170 patients treated between 1973 and 1987 at two university centers, one in Hawaii and one in Israel. Most patients were poor risks and several had FEV1 < 1 liter. There were 6 (3.5%) hospital deaths. There were 58 segmental resections, 97 wedge resections and 15 less than lobar resections not otherwise specified. Seventy-three patients (43%) are living free of cancer from 5 to 11 years postoperatively and 20 additional patients died of causes unrelated to lung cancer after 5 years; thus disease free five year survival was 54.7%. Patients with adenocarcinoma had poorer prognosis than other cell types. Twenty-three patients (13.5%) had synchronous or metachronous second primary lung cancers. Nine of these patients are long term survivors. Twenty-four patients (14.1%) developed local recurrences with or without distant metastases. This promising long term cancer-free survival and the frequency of second primary lung cancers justifies less than lobar resection for peripheral, Stage I bronchogenic carcinoma, especially in the poor risk patient.