Negative impact of chemical pleurodesis on postoperative pulmonary function for managing prolonged air leakage after segmentectomy

Objective Prolonged air leakage (PAL) is the most common postoperative complication after segmentectomy and chemical pleurodesis (CP) is one of the common procedures for managing PAL. However, the impact of CP on postoperative pulmonary function remains unclear. Methods We performed a propensity score matching analysis for postoperative pulmonary function in lung cancer patients who underwent segmentectomy. The percentage of postoperative functional change of forced vital capacity (δFVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (δFEV 1.0 ) at postoperative 6 and 12 months were compared between patients who were managed for PAL by CP (CP group, n = 21) and those who did not receive CP (non-CP, n = 21). The predicted δFVC and δFEV 1.0 after segmentectomy and lobectomy were also assessed to evaluate the loss of preserved lung function. Results δFVC and δFEV 1.0 in the CP group were confirmed by a significantly larger decline in postoperative pulmonary function than that seen in the non-CP group at postoperative 6 and 12 months (δFVC at 6 months, − 21.1% versus − 5.1%, − 20.8% versus − 6.8% at 12 months, δFEV 1.0 at 6 months, − 19.1% versus − 7.2%, − 19.6% versus − 9.7%, at 12 months, p