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Objective: No guidelines detailing recommendations for the selection and treatment of patients with synchronous multiple primary lung cancer have been published. We report on a single-institution experience with synchronous multiple primary lung cancer, with emphasis on long-term survival. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 125 consecutive patients with synchronous multiple primary lung cancer who underwent operation between 1985 and 2006. Various treatment strategies were applied, including perioperative therapy. Potential prognosticators were submitted to univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Tumors were bilateral (n = 34) or ipsilateral (n = 91). Optimal surgical treatment (complete anatomic resection with radical lymphadenectomy) was possible in 65.6% of the cases. pN0 disease was present in 32.3% of the patients; 30-day and 90-day mortality rates were 4.5% and 11%, respectively. Two- and 5-year overall survivals were 61.6% and 34%, respectively, with a median survival of 35 months. On univariate analysis, smoking status, high Charlson index, low forced expiratory volume in 1 second, occurrence of postoperative complications, and performance of a pneumonectomy affected the overall survival adversely. Conversely, bilateral disease, location in the same lobe, and pN0 disease were favorable prognosticators. On multivariate analysis, low forced expiratory volume in 1 second, nonoptimal surgical treatment, and performance of a pneumonectomy were independent predictors of poor long-term survival, whereas female sex, younger age, asymptomatic disease, pN0 status, and performance of an adjuvant treatment affected the survival favorably. Conclusions: Provided there is an appropriate selection process, patients with synchronous multiple primary lung cancer are expected to benefit from surgery. Optimal surgery should be performed, but pneumonectomy should be avoided whenever possible. Adjuvant treatment is suggested to provide an added survival advantage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: We sought to assess postoperative outcome after pneumonectomy after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: This retrospective study included 100 patients treated from January 1989 through December 2003 for a primary lung cancer in whom pneumonectomy had been performed after an induction treatment. Surgical intervention had not been considered initially for the following reasons: N2 disease (stage IIIA, n = 79), doubtful resectability (stage IIIB [T4, N0], n = 19), and M1 disease (stage IV [T2, N0, M1, solitary brain metastasis], n = 2). All patients received a 2-drug platinum-based regimen with a median of 2.5 cycles (range, 2–4 cycles), and 30 had associated radiotherapy (30–45 Gy). Results: There were 55 right and 45 left resections. Overall 30-day and 90-day mortality rates were 12% and 21%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, one inde- pendent prognostic factor entered the model to predict 30-day mortality: postoperative cardiovascular event (relative risk, 45.7; 95% confidence interval, 3.7–226.7; P = .001). Four variables predicted 90-day mortality: age of more than 60 years (relative risk, 5.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.47–17.48; P = .01), male sex (relative risk, 8.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–67.34; P = .049), postoperative respiratory event (relative risk, 3.64; 95% confidence interval, 1.14–9.37; P = .007), and postoperative cardiovascular event (relative risk, 7.84; 95% confidence interval, 3.12–19.71; P < .001). Estimated overall survivals in 90-day survivors were 35% (range, 29%-41%) and 25% (range, 19.3%-30.7%) at 3 and 5 years, respectively. At multivariate analysis, one independent prognostic factor entered the model: pathologic stage III-IV residual disease (relative risk, 1.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–3.26; P = .022). Conclusions: Pneumonectomy after induction therapy is a high-risk procedure, the survival benefit of which appears uncertain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background. Long-term results of the surgical treatment of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are disappointing.Methods. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on 515 consecutive lung resections for stage I NSCLC performed from 1990 to 1999 and identified by reviewing a database into which data were entered prospectively. Tumors were staged as stages IA (n = 147) and IB (n = 348) according to the 1997 UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer) pTNM classification.Results. Operative mortality rates were 6.2%, 5.3%, 2.3%, and 0% for pneumonectomy, bilobectomy, lobectomy, and lesser resections, respectively. Overall survival rate was 61.1% (55.8% to 66.5%) at 5 years. Univariate analysis identified three significant adverse prognosticators: arteriosclerosis as comorbidity, pathologic T2 status, and blood vessel invasion. Male sex (p = 0.056) and performance of pneumonectomy (p = 0.057) were at the threshold of statistical significance. At multivariate analysis, three independent prognosticators entered the model: arteriosclerosis, blood vessels invasion, and performance of pneumonectomy.Conclusions. Long-term survival of patients with completely resected stage I NSCLC was adversely influenced in a relatively balanced way by factors related to the clinical status of the patient, to the tumor, and to the treatment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Some patients with localised oesophageal cancer are treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) rather than surgery. A subset of these patients experiences local failure, relapse or treatment-related complication without distant metastases, with no other curative treatment option but salvage oesophagectomy. The aim of this study was to assess the benefit/risk ratio of surgery in such context. Methods: Review of a single institution experience with 24 patients: 18 men and 6 women, with a mean age of 59 years (±9). Histology was squamous cell carcinoma in 18 cases and adenocarcinoma in 6. Initial stages were cIIA (n =5), cIIB (n =1) and cIII (n =18). CRT consisted of 2–6 sessions of the association 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin concomitantly with a 50–75Gy radiation therapy. Salvage oesophagectomy was considered for the following reasons: relapse of the disease with conclusive (n =11) or inconclusive biopsies (n =7), intractable stenosis (n =3), and perforation or severe oesophagitis (n =3), at a mean delay of 74 days (14–240 days) following completion of CRT. Results: All patients underwent a transthoracic en-bloc oesophagectomy with 2-field lymphadenectomy. Thirty-day and 90-day mortality rates were 21% and 25%, respectively. Anastomotic leakage (p =0.05), cardiac failure (p =0.05), length of stay (p =0.03) and the number of packed red blood cells (p =0.02) were more frequent in patients who received more than 55Gy, leading to a doubled in-hospital mortality when compared to that of patients having received lower doses. A R0 resection was achieved in 21 patients (87.5%). A complete pathological response (ypT0N0) was observed in 3 patients (12.5%). Overall and disease-free 5-year survival rates were 35% and 21%, respectively. There was no long-term survivor following R1–R2 resections. Functional results were good in more than 80% of the long-term survivors. Conclusion: Salvage surgery is a highly invasive and morbid operation after a volume dose of radiation exceeding 55Gy. The indication must be carefully considered, with care taken to avoid incomplete resections. Given that long-term survival with a fair quality of life can be achieved, such high-risk surgery should be considered in selected patients at an experienced centre. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: T4-disease for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) includes different conditions: mediastinal invasion, neoplastic pleural cytology, and multifocal disease in the same lobe; regarding the last category, no strict criteria allow to differentiate satellite nodules from synchronous multiple primary tumours. Methods: Retrospective study of 56 patients who underwent a complete resection from 1985 to 2006 of a NSCLC graded pT4N0 due to multifocal disease. A small nodule (<1cm) closed to the primary tumour, in a same pulmonary segment with an identical histology was considered as a satellite nodule (pT4sn). Multiple tumours, sized more than 1cm, with an identical histology, located in the same lobe but in different segment were considered as synchronous cancers (pT4sc). Results: There were 44 males and 12 females: 35 patients were graded T4sn and 21 patients T4sc. The median age was 62.5 years. The two groups were similar for sex, age, tobacco consumption, ASA score, NYHA, Charlson''s index, spirometric parameters, cardiovascular comorbidity and history of previous extra-thoracic malignancies. All had a complete anatomic resection with mediastinal lymphadenectomy. Thirty-day mortality rate was 3.6%. Overall 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 48.2% and 29.9%, respectively. There was a non-significant trend for a worse survival in T4sn group patients when compared to that of T4sc group patients: 42.9% vs 52.3% at 5 years, and 25% vs 34.9% at 10 years (p =0.62). Conclusions: Multifocal T4 stage IIIB disease is a heterogeneous category where overall prognosis is far better than those of other T4 subgroups. Survival rates associated with pT4sn and pT4sc look roughly similar because of the small size of the subgroups usually submitted to comparison in most series. In the present experience, respective survival figures diverge, suggesting different biological behaviours. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Induction Therapy (IT) before surgery emerged as a widely used strategy for IIIAN2 and selected IIIB NSCLC patients. However, IT is associated with a possible increase in postoperative complications. Consequently, selection of patients with the best chances to benefit from combined treatment is mandatory. Methods: Study recorded demographics, treatment and outcome of consecutive patients treated with IT plus surgery for IIIAN2 or IIIB NSCLC. Survival was analysed by Kaplan–Meier and prognostic factors were analysed by log-rank and Cox regression. Results: From 1993 to 2003, 155 patients (IIIAN2=95/IIIB=60) were treated. Complete resection was associated with a significant prolonged median survival both for IIIAN2 (20 vs 16 months, P=0.05) and IIIB (20 vs 15 months, P=0.02) patients. A lower risk of death for IIIAN2 patients was independently associated with postoperative mediastinal lymph node clearance (HR=0.45, 95%CI [0.25–0.81], P=0.009) and absence of postoperative complication (HR=0.54, 95%CI [0.31–0.93], P=0.02). Absence of blood vessel invasion only was identified as an independent predictor of a lower risk of death (HR=0.27, 95%CI [0.12–0.59], P=0.01) for stage IIIB patients. Conclusions: Besides similarities as the role of a complete R0 resection, treatment-related factors influence outcome of IIIAN2 patients while disease-related factors prevail on survival of IIIB patients, in whom the benefit of IT is unclear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: Analysis of a single institution experience with completion pneumonectomy. Methods: From 1989 to 2002, 55 consecutive cancer patients received completion pneumonectomy (mean age 62 years; 25–79). Indications were bronchogenic carcinoma in 38 patients (4 first cancers, 8 recurrent cancers, 26 second cancers), lung metastases in three (one each from breast cancer, colorectal neoplasm and lung cancer), lung sarcoma in one, and miscellaneous non-malignant conditions in 13 patients having been surgically treated for a non-small cell lung cancer previously (bronchopleural fistula in 4, radionecrosis in 3, aspergilloma in 2, pachypleura in 1, massive hemoptysis in 1 and pneumonia in 2). Before completion pneumonectomy, 50 patients had had a lobectomy, three a bilobectomy, and two lesser resections. The mean interval between the two procedures was 51 months for the whole group (1–469), 60 months for lung cancer (12–469), 43 months for pulmonary metastases (21–59) and 29 months for non-malignant disorders (1–126). Results: There were 35 right (64%) and 20 left (36%) resections. The surgical approaches were a posterolateral thoracotomy in 50 cases (91%) and a lateral thoracotomy in five cases (9%). Intrapericardial route was used in 49 patients (89%). Five patients had an extended resection (2 chest wall, 1 diaphragm, 1 subclavian artery and 1 superior vena cava). Operative mortality was 16.4% (n=9): 11.9% for malignant disease (n=5) and 30.8% for benign disease (n=4). Operative mortality was 20% for right completion pneumonectomies (n=7) and 10% for left-sided procedures (n=2). Twenty-three patients (42%) experienced non-fatal major complications. Actuarial 3- and 5-year survival rates from the time of completion pneumonectomy were 48.4 and 35.2% for the entire group. Three- and five-year survival for patients with bronchogenic carcinoma were 56.9 and 43.4%, respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that completion pneumonectomy in the setting of lung malignancies can be done with an operative risk similar to the one reported for standard pneumonectomy. In contrast, in cancer patients, completion pneumonectomy for inflammatory disorders is a very high-risk procedure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]