Abstract
We reviewed reoperation for postoperative intrathoracic recurrence of lung cancer. From January 1980 through December 1988, a total of 267 patients had primary operations for lung cancer, and nine had reoperations for recurrence of the tumor. The median interval between the operations was 24.1 months. Three patients underwent contralateral wedge resection after an initial lobectomy. In three patients, ipsilateral wedge resection was done after initial lobectomy or wedge resection. In the three remaining cases, an ipsilateral lobectomy was performed after primary lobectomy or wedge resection. Three patients died with recurrent disease within 15 months of the reoperation. One patient died of postoperative complication. Five patients are still alive and four are tumor-free. These results indicate that for patients with a recurrent lung cancer, reoperation especially wedge resection, offers acceptable survival rates with minimal risk of death and respiratory failure.
