Extended surgery for T4 lung cancer: a 30 years’ experience

T4 non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) were deemed unresectable. Advances in surgery have challenged this dogma. We describe technical aspects and result on superior vena cava (SVC), carinal, thoracic inlet tumor surgeries, and resection under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). SVC reconstruction requires hemodynamic control to reverse SVC clamping cerebral effects and excellent cephalic venous bed patency. Among 50 SVC resections, including 25 carinal pneumonectomies, post-operative mortality rate was 8%. In the N0–N1 group, 5- and 10-year survival rates were 46.6 and 37.7%, respectively. Right carinal pneumonectomy was performed through right thoracotomy. Sternotomy was favored for left carinal pneumonectomy or carinal resection alone. Among 138 carinal resections, including eight right upper lobectomies, 123 right pneumonectomies, four left pneumonectomies, and three isolated carinal resections, the post-operative mortality rate was 9.4%. In the N0–N1 patients, 5-year survival rate was 47%. 191 patients underwent resections of thoracic inlet tumors through a transclavicular cervicothoracic anterior approach combined in 63 patients with a posterior midline incision for limited spine invasion. In N0–N1 group, 5- and 10-year survival rates were 41.5 and 29.7%, respectively. CPB allowed resection of tumors invading the heart or great vessels in 13 patients. R0 resection and post-operative mortality rate were 94.4 and 5.5%, respectively. In this series of 388 T4 NSCLC, the post-operative mortality rate was 4%. In the R0 and N0–N1 groups, the 5-year survival rates were 44 and 41%, respectively. Surgical resection of T4 locally advanced NSCLC is worth being performed in selected N0–N1 patients, provided that a radical resection is expected.