Surgical treatment of lung cancer patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in malignant tumors. Surgery is one of the main treatments for early stage lung cancer. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), one of the most common interstitial lung disease, is a chronic, progressive lung disease, characterized by insidious onset and progressive deterioration. It is reported that there are common pathways in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer, and patients with IPF have a higher risk of lung cancer than the general population, whose prevalence was 3.34 times than that of the general population. The incidence of acute exacerbations of IPF and postoperative mortality was significantly higher in lung cancer patients complicated with IPF than those without IPF. The long-term outcomes of patients with IPF are dramatically worse than those without IPF. It was concluded that lobectomy has been still the standard surgical procedure for such patients, but sublobectomy should be taken as potential alternative choice for patients with high risk after preoperative evaluation. Moreover, further studies should be conducted on the prevention and treatment of acute exacerbation of IPF after surgery.