Clinical parameters affecting prediction accuracy of postoperative lung function in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Despite significant development in chemotherapy and radiotherapy, surgery is still the cornerstone for curative lung cancer treatment. Accurate prediction of postoperative lung function is mandatory. The goal of this study was to identify important clinical factors affecting prediction accuracy of postoperative lung function for more careful patient selection. The medical records of non-small cell lung cancer patients undergoing pulmonary resection were reviewed. An accuracy index, apo/ppoFEV1 was defined as the ratio of actual postoperative FEV1 [apoFEV1] to predicted postoperative FEV1 [ppoFEV1]. We used multivariate analysis to inspect the relationship between the accuracy index and seven tentative clinical factors: age, gender, preoperative FEV1, time interval between operation and the first postoperative FEV1, bronchodilator response (%), resected lung portion, and the number of resected lung segments. A total of 82 patients were analyzed. Accuracy index of quantitative perfusion lung scan-based prediction was better than that of simple calculation. Multivariate analysis identified the number of resected lung segments and preoperative FEV1 as the significant clinical factors affecting the accuracy index (P = 0.026 and 0.002, respectively). Preoperative FEV1 and the number of resected lung segments are significant clinical factors affecting prediction accuracy of postoperative lung function. © 2008 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.