The relationship between postoperative empyema and long-term survival after pneumonectomy. Results of surgical treatment of bronchogenic carcinoma.

In order to present the possible influence of postoperative empyema on the survival rate of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma, who had been treated by pneumonectomy, a retrospective investigation was made upon 207 patients over a 10-year period. In patients with and without a complicating postoperative empyema, a cumulative survival rate of 0.04 and 0.26, respectively, was found. The difference was not significant. However, other retrospective investigations on the influence of postoperative empyema on long-term survival after surgical treatment for bronchogenic carcinoma have shown results that might stimulate prospective studies on the subject. Furthermore, this investigation showed that the probability of long-term survival was highest in patients under 60 years of age, when the bronchogenic carcinoma is a planocellular carcinoma located in the left lung without postoperative empyema. Among pneumonectomized lung cancer patients, the mortality was above expectancy, even 8-10 years after operation compared with the estimated survival rate in the average population.