Related Experiment Videos
[Pulmonary resections for cancer in the octogenarian]
J F Regnard1, F Calanducci, C Denet
1Service de Chirurgie Thoracique, Hôpital Marie Lannelongue, Le Plessis Robinson.
Unlabelled:
More and more elderly subjects are offered for pulmonary resection. The object of this study was to review the results of excision for cancer in octogenarians.
Patients:
51 consecutive patients (44 men, 7 women) with a mean age of 82 years (80-91) were operated on. 31 lobectomies, 2 bilobectomies, 13 pneumonectomies, 1 segmental resection and 4 exploratory thoracotomies were carried out. 17 tumours were classed as stage I, 15 as stage II and 15 as stage III.
Results:
38 patients (75%) had uncomplicated post-operative periods; the predicted factors for complication were the existence of weight loss and alteration of respiratory function. 2 patients (4%) died in the post-operative phase. Neither the type of operation, the staging or the existence of cardiovascular dysfunction had any influence on the post-operative phase. The level of the survival at 3 and 5 years was 39% and 16% respectively. 30% of the late deaths were related to intercurrent events.
Conclusions:
Pulmonary excision may be envisaged in an octogenarian who is in good physical and intellectual state with a limited tumour. This surgery in general is applied to a population which probably only marginally consists of octogenarians but the results here justify their inclusion in the indications for selection.