Survival following resection for second primary bronchogenic carcinoma.

A second resective procedure has been done on 64 patients with multiple primary bronchogenic carcinoma, and a third operation has been performed in six. Fifty-three initial resections and all repeat procedures were performed at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Six patients had synchronous primary cancers, and in the 58 with metachronous disease the cumulative probability of tumor-free interval was 47% at 3 years. The initial resection performed was pneumonectomy in seven, lobectomy in 40, and segmentectomy in 17 patients. At the second operation, segmental resection was done in 41, lobectomy in six, completion lobectomy in four, and completion pneumonectomy in 13 patients. At the third operation, segmentectomy was done in three, completion lobectomy in two, and completion pneumonectomy in one patient. Ten patients had a tumor of different histologic type identified at the second procedure, but all patients with three operations had the same tumor cell type in each specimen. Six patients died following the second operation (a postoperative mortality of 9.3%), but there were no deaths in the six patients undergoing three procedures. Cumulative survival following the second resection was 36% at 5 years, 22% at 10 years and 13% at 15 years. In summary, second or third surgical efforts for reappearing bronchogenic cancers are justified and have significantly prolonged survival. The use of segmental or subsegmental resective techniques have provided superior survival results.