Surgical and survival outcomes of lung cancer patients with intratumoral lung abscesses

BACKGROUND: Intratumoral lung abscess is a secondary lung abscess that is considered to be fatal. Therefore, surgical procedures, although high-risk, have sometimes been performed for intratumoral lung abscesses. However, no studies have examined the surgical outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer patients with intratumoral lung abscesses. The aim of this study was to investigate the surgical and survival outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer patients with intratumoral lung abscesses. METHODS: Eleven consecutive non-small cell lung cancer patients with intratumoral lung abscesses, who had undergone pulmonary resection at our institution between January 2007 and December 2015, were retrospectively analysed. The post-operative prognoses were investigated and prognostic factors were evaluated. RESULTS: Ten of 11 patients were male and one patient was female. The median age was 64 (range, 52–80) years. Histopathologically, 4 patients had Stage IIA, 2 patients had Stage IIB, 2 patients had Stage IIIA, and 3 patients had Stage IV tumors. The median operative time was 346 min and the median amount of bleeding was 1327 mL. The post-operative morbidity and mortality rates were 63.6% and 0.0%, respectively. Recurrence of respiratory infections, including lung abscesses, was not observed in all patients. The median post-operative observation period was 16.1 (range, 1.3–114.5) months. The 5-year overall survival rate was 43.3%. No pre-operative, intra-operative, or post-operative prognostic factors were identified in the univariate analyses. CONCLUSION: Surgical procedures for advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer patients with intratumoral lung abscesses, although high-risk, led to satisfactory post-operative mortality rates and acceptable prognoses.