Surgical treatment of bronchiectasis: a retrospective analysis of 790 patients

Background: The global incidence of bronchiectasis is increasing, and this disease is prevalent in rural China. This study examined operative mortality, morbidity, and outcomes of surgery for bronchiectasis at a single institution in China.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 790 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for bronchiectasis in our department between January 1989 and December 2008. Localized bronchiectasis was diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography. The persistence of symptoms after failure of nonsurgical treatment was an indication for surgery. Cystic fibrosis patients were excluded from this study.

Results: The study sample included 790 patients (466 male, 324 female) who underwent 810 operations for bronchiectasis. Mean age at time of surgery was 41.6 years (range, 6 to 79 years). Several surgical procedures were used: lobectomy (497; 62.9%), segment resection (37; 4.7%), pneumonectomy (90; 11.3%), bilobectomy (56; 7.1%), and lobectomy and segmentectomy (110; 14.0%). There were no intraoperative deaths. Nine (1.1%) patients died in the postoperative period. Univariate analysis showed that advanced age (p = 0.04) and renal failure (p = 0.001) were associated with postoperative mortality, and multivariate analysis revealed that preoperative renal failure was associated with mortality (p = 0.025). The mean follow-up time was 4.2 years (range, 10 months to 10 years). After surgery, 478 (60.5%) patients were asymptomatic, 111 (14.1%) had improved, and 117 (14.8%) showed no improvement or worsened condition.

Conclusions: Localized bronchiectasis is usually the indication for surgical resection, which is a safe procedure with acceptable operative morbidity, mortality, and outcomes.