The role of bronchoplasty in the treatment of lung cancer.

Over a half of the patients with lung cancer have inoperable disease on diagnosis. Limited respiratory reserve due to chronic pulmonary disease can preclude patients from pneumonectomy. A bronchoplastic resection can be used to circumvent pneumonectomy in selected cases. Its applicability in lung cancer was investigated by following up a total of 28 patients who underwent this procedure for lung cancer between 1973 and 1993 in our institution. This was only approximately 1.4% of all our lung cancer operations. The actuarial five-year survival probability was 40%, and the complication rate was 16%. These values are comparable to those reported in the literature and to those of pneumonectomy. It appears that the ideal cases with a proximal tumour but limited disease are rare.