PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF POSTOPERATIVE EMPYEMA IN LUNG-CANCER

Four hundred sixty patients who had undergone resection for lung cance r, with a minimum follow-up of 10 years, were analyzed retrospectively . Thirty-eight cases developed postoperative empyema, A comparative ev aluation of the long-term survival rate was made of two groups: one in which the patients had developed empyema and one in which the patient s had developed no empyema complications, The survival rate was estima ted by the Kaplan Meyer Product Limit Method, The prognostic significa nce of empyema and other factors was analyzed by the Log Rank Test, th e X(2) test in homogeneous series of patients and the Cox Hazard Model , Overall, the ten-year survival rate was 23.7% in the empyema group a nd 15.9% in the control group, After stratification by post-surgical s tage, lymphocytic infiltration of primary tumour (LI), and histologica l type, no significant differences in survival between the two groups were demonstrated by the Log Rank Test, The same results were found wh en the survival distribution of the empyema cases was compared with tw o control groups of patients without empyema, individually paired to t he empyema group for Immune Response (LI), post-surgical stage, and hi stological type, In the end, after multivariate analysis empyema was n ot shown to be a factor of prognostic significance.