Smoking Increases Risks But Should Not Delay Lung Cancer Surgeries

Though still preliminary and not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, MedPage Today reports that studies have revealed those who were former smokers or are currently smokers, should not have necessary lung cancer resection surgery delayed due to their smoking histories.

Overall hospital mortality was 1.4% (109 deaths), but among never smokers the rate was 0.4% compared with 1.5% in smokers.

Patients who had stopped smoking more than a year before surgery still had a higher risk for perioperative mortality compared with never smokers, but the difference was no longer statistically significant (OR 2.5, 95% CI 0.82 to 7.6, P=0.17).

Among smokers, the rate of pulmonary complications including re-intubation, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and ventilation was 2.6% versus 2% among never smokers, Dr. Subramanian said.

But the increased risk of pulmonary complications diminished relatively quickly so that there was no statistically significant increase among those who stopped smoking a month or more before surgery.

Read the rest of this article at Med Page Today.