Lung cancer surgery in HIV‐infected patients: An analysis of postoperative complications and long‐term survival

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors of postoperative complications and reliable prognostic factors of long‐term survival in HIV‐infected patients with non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: HIV‐infected patients with NSCLC who underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively studied; a single‐institutional analysis was conducted from November 2011 to August 2018. Pre‐ and postoperative clinical data, including age, gender, smoking history, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), CD4+ T cell count, HIV viral load, cancer histology, clinical and pathological stage (p‐stage), surgical result, Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), survival time and postoperative complications were collected. RESULTS: A total of 33 HIV‐infected patients with NSCLC were enrolled of which 18 (54.7%) had preoperative comorbidities and postoperative complications were observed in 22 (66.7%) patients. Thirty‐day mortality was not observed in these patients. Median survival time after surgery was 65 months: the MST of p‐stage I patients was 65 months; p‐stage II MST was unestimable; p‐stage III MST was 21 months. Univariate analyses showed that postoperative complications were associated with HIV viral load (P = 0.002), CCI (P = 0.027), HAART (P = 0.028) and CD4+ T cell count (P = 0.045). However, multiple logistic regression analysis showed no correlation between HAART and postoperative complications. The p‐stage was an independent prognostic factor for survival time. CONCLUSIONS: In our single‐arm retrospective analysis, the risk factors for postoperative complications in HIV‐infected patients with NSCLC were HIV viral load, CCI and CD4+ T cell counts. The p‐stage was a predictive factor for long‐term survival.