Education＆ScienceEducational Article

Comment by Mark Lavercombe: International guidelines for the pre-operative evaluation of a patient being considered for surgical resection of lung cancer recommend prediction of postoperative lung function. In this cohort of 419 patients who underwent lobectomy, the authors monitored lung function post-operatively at two weeks, 3, 6, and 12 months, as well as collecting data on peri-operative complications, various other clinical measures, and levels of moderate or vigorous activity. By stratifying patients by whether they reached their predicted post-operative lung function at six months, they were then able to perform logistic regression to determine factors associated with non-recovery. Right upper lobectomy was associated with non-recovery of FEV1 and DLCO, with decreased physical activity at two weeks also associated with non-recovery of DLCO. Lower predicted post-operative FEV1 and DLCO was associated with higher risk of complications.