Primary lung tumors invading the chest wall

Objective: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The surgical approach to locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) goes beyond the classical approach and requires a multidisciplinary approach both preoperatively and postoperatively. In addition to the tumor size, the location of T3 tumors affects the extent of the surgery. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent lung resection for cancer between March 2019 and October 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who underwent chest wall resection were evaluated in terms of age, gender, pathology, type of operation, survival, recurrence, complications, receipt of preoperative chemotherapy, tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, whether or not mediastinoscopy was performed, STAS (The spread through air spaces) positivity, visceral pleural invasion, parietal pleural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and alveolar/bronchial wall invasion. Results: Thoracic wall resection was performed in nine patients with locally advanced NSCLC. The use of prolene mesh was required in eight patients. All patients complained of pain in the thoracic wall in the preoperative period. Postoperative pathology results showed STAS positivity in four patients; alveolar/bronchial wall invasion in four; and visceral, parietal, pleural, and lymphovascular invasion in seven. The mean survival of the patients was 24.20 months (0.63–39). No patient developed recurrence during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Chest wall resection and reconstruction for lung cancer is a surgical treatment method that should be performed without violating respiratory physiology and by using a small amount/number of synthetic materials.