Prospective study of surgical treatment of lung cancer in the elderly patient.

BACKGROUND: In 1986 the authors began a prospective study to investigate operative mortality and long-term survival after surgery of patients in their seventh decade of life suffering from non-small cell lung cancer in Stages I and II. METHODS: From 1986 to 1991, 519 lung cancer patients underwent radical surgery. Of this number, 54 were aged 70 years and older (Group A), while 465 fell within the 40-69 age range (Group B). The most widely applied operation in absolute terms was lobectomy (no difference between the two groups). Pneumonectomies were performed in greater number in Group B (p < .025), whereas minor resections were more numerous in Group A (p < .0005). RESULTS: Operative mortality, i.e., within 30 days of operation, was higher in the elderly patients, but without any significant difference between the two groups (A, 5.5%; B, 1.3%). Morbidity presented a very similar pattern: Group A, 7.4%; Group B, 6.9%. Actuarial survival at 2 and 5 years for the patients in Stage I was distributed as follows: Group A, 78.2% and 52.1%; Group B, 80.0% and 57.8%. CONCLUSIONS: No statistically significant difference exists between the survival rates of the two groups. The data gathered suggest that patients in their seventh decade of life can receive surgical treatment exactly as younger patients in the case of non-small cell lung cancer in Stages I and II.