Importance of Smoking Cessation on Surgical Outcome in Primary Lung Cancer

Fukui and colleagues retrospectively compared outcomes for patients who were either smokers (410 patients) or never smokers (256 patients) and who underwent resection for primary lung cancer (stage I to III). The authors evaluated 90-day mortality and respiratory complications, both of which were higher for smokers than for never smokers. Smoking cessation mitigated the increased likelihood of pulmonary complications for smokers, and the odds ratios for complications compared to never smoking patients were lowest for those patients with the longest interval of preoperative smoking cessation (more than 12 months). The authors conclude that smoking cessation is always valuable for lung cancer surgery, but that longer periods of time are more efficacious for reducing pulmonary complications.