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Background: In this study, our aim was to evaluate the mortality and morbidity rates of elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer who were treated surgically.
Methods: Thirty patients older than 70 years had been surgically treated for nonsmall cell lung cancer in our clinic, between 1990-2000. All patients were reviwed retrospectively according to age, sex, coexisting diseases, smoking, spirometry, histology, postoperative staging, mortality and morbidity. 5-year survival rates were determined by using Kaplan-Meier method. All patients were male and smokers except one. Fifteen of them (50%) had coexisting diseases. FEV1 values of the six (20%) patients were 80%, 20 (66.6%) were between 60-80% and four patients were lower than 60% preoperative expected values. These four cases underwent operation after treadmill test, Ventilation/Perfusion scanning.
Results: There were nine postoperative complications and six of them were classified as serious. We had no postoperative mortality. Overall 5-year survival rate was 20%.
Conclusion: In case of a proper patient selection, precise preoperative staging, possible smallest surgical intervention and intense postoperative care can help us to decrease mortality and morbidity rates. Under these circumstances, advanced age (age >70 years) cannot be accepted as an absolute contraindication for surgery.