Results of pulmonary angioplastic operations for cases of bronchogenic carcinoma

Pulmonary artery reconstruction for bronchogenic carcinoma was performed in 36 patients (5.8%) in our department between 1955 and 1988 for the purpose of preservation of pulmonary function. Twenty-six patients had squamous cell carcinoma (72.2%) and 24 had Stage IIIA. The operative procedures were sleeve resection of the main pulmonary artery (P.A.) and end-to-end anastomosis in 20 cases, wedge resection of P.A. and transverse suture in 14 and window type resection of P.A. and patch closure in 2. In 28 patients bronchoplastic procedures were combined. Three patients (8.3%) died within 30 days after operation. Postoperative complications were relatively high in the patients with combined operations. The 5-year survival rates were 45.7%. Postoperative pulmonary functions were evaluated with spirometric examinations and pulmonary scintigrams. There were no differences in postoperative pulmonary functions between pulmonary angioplastic procedures and simple lobectomies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)