Treatment outcomes of adjuvant resectional surgery for nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease

BACKGROUND: Outcomes of antibiotic treatment for lung disease caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are unsatisfactory. The role of adjunctive surgery in the treatment of NTM lung disease is still unclear. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 70 patients who underwent pulmonary resection for NTM lung disease from March 2007 to February 2013. All patients received recommended antibiotic treatment before and after the surgery. RESULTS: A total of 70 patients underwent 74 operations. The median age of the patients was 50 years. Of the 70 patients, 45 (64%) had Mycobacterium avium complex infection (24 M. intracellulare and 21 M. avium) and 23 (33%) had M. abscessus complex infection (15 M. abscessus and 8 M. massiliense). Thirty-eight (54%) patients had the nodular bronchiectatic form and 28 (40%) had the fibrocavitary form of NTM lung disease. The indications for surgery were a poor response to drug therapy (n=52), remnant cavitary lesions and severe bronchiectasis (n=14), and hemoptysis (n=4). Preoperative sputum acid-fast bacilli staining results were positive in 44 (63%) patients, and sputum culture was positive in 54 (76%). The surgery included lobectomy or lobectomy plus segmentectomy (n=50, 68%), segmentectomy (n=11, 15%), pneumonectomy or completion pneumonectomy (n=8, 11%), bilobectomy or bilobectomy plus segmentectomy (n=4, 5%), and wedge resection (n=1, 1%). Postoperative complications occurred in 15 (21%) patients, including one postoperative death and bronchopleural fistula in 5 patients with the fibrocavitary form of the disease. A negative sputum culture was achieved and maintained in 57 (81%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Although adjuvant pulmonary resection is associated with a relatively high complication rate, this procedure may provide a high level of treatment success for selected patients with NTM lung disease, such as those with a poor response to antibiotic treatment alone.