Surgical treatment of 120 high risk elderly patients with lung cancer

Background and objective Lung cancer is easy to occur in patients older than 70 years, whose special health condition makes their treatment more difficult. The aim of this study is to investigate the best surgical treatment and perioperative management for high risk elderly patients with lung cancer. Methods After 5 years’ follow-up, 120 high risk elderly patients with lung cancer were analyzed retrospectively. Results Of 120 patients, there was no operative death. Four patients died of respiration failure and 2 died of myocardial infarction. Perioperational death rate was 5.0%. The overall 1-, 3-and 5-year survival rate was 67.7%, 41.7% and 28.1%, respectively. Conclusion Appropriate management of complications is the key point to decrease perioperative death rate, and it may influence the quality of life of patients. To resect tumor maximally may be not the best choice for elderly patients. Lobectomy or segmental resection combined with positive lymph node dissection may be the considerable patterns.