Treatment of Patients with Limited Pulmonary Function

Lung Cancer Resection Combined with Lung Volume Reduction in Patients with Severe Emphysema (PubMed)
Study published in the May 2004 issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery that found that patients with severe emphysema and resectable lung cancer who have a favorable anatomy for lung volume reduction surgery may undergo a combined cancer resection and lung volume reduction surgery with an acceptable risk and good long-term survival. [5/04]

Impact of Limited Pulmonary Function on the Management of Resectable Lung Cancer (PubMed)
Limited pulmonary function (LPF) related to obstructive disease and emphysema or due to significant toxicity resulting from chemotherapy regimens are frequently co-morbidity factors in lung cancer patients. This study, published in the July 2003 issue of Lung Cancer, investigated the frequency of LPF in lung cancer and its impact on surgical eligibility and postoperative outcome. The study concluded that a strict and careful selection of patients, guided by concurrent analysis of different functional tests, allowed surgeons to offer surgery with a very low complication rate to the majority of patients with limited pulmonary function. [7/04]

Video-assisted Lobectomy for a Lung Cancer Patient with COPD (PubMed)
Retrospective study published in the November 2003 issue of the Japanese Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery that found video-assisted lobectomy seemed to be useful in preserving pulmonary function in lung cancer patients with COPD. [11/03]

Lung Cancer & Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - Recent MEDLINE Abstracts