ObjectiveTo explore the necessity of routine chest X-ray (CXR) examination after lung surgery based on patient symptom burden. MethodsA retrospective study was conducted on the patients who underwent thoracoscopic lung resection at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital from March 2020 to April 2023. Routine CXR findings obtained within 24 h post-operation, after chest tube removal, and at 1-month post-discharge, as well as subsequent clinical interventions triggered by these examinations, were collected and analyzed. The Perioperative Symptom Assessment Lung (PSA-Lung) inventory was used to quantify symptom burden including pain, dyspnea, and sleep disturbance. Results A total of 2 101 patients were collected, including 986 males and 1 115 females, with a median age of 56 years. The rate of clinical interventions triggered by routine CXR examinations was very low, being 1.0%, 0.5%, and 1.3% within 24 h post-operation, within 12 h after extubation, and at 1-month post-discharge, respectively. One month after discharge, patients in the intervention group exhibited significantly higher scores for dyspnea (3 points vs. 2 points, P=0.015), pain (2 points vs. 1 point, P=0.039), and sleep disturbance (3 points vs. 2 points, P=0.036) compared with the non-intervention group. Conclusion Very few routine postoperative CXR examinations change patients’ management, and patients who need extra-intervention tended to have more severe symptom burden after surgery.
Objective To explore the timing and safety of limited-period lung cancer surgery in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Methods Clinical data of of patients infected with COVID-19 undergoing lung cancer surgery (an observation group) in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, the Department of Thoracic Surgery of General Hospital of Southern Theater Command of PLA, and the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University from December 2022 to January 2023 were retrospectively analyzed and compared with patients who underwent surgery during the same period but were not infected with COVID-19 (a control group), to explore the impact of COVID-19 infection on lung cancer surgery. Results We finally included 110 patients with 73 patients in the observation group (28 males and 45 females at age of 52.62±12.80 years) and 37 patients in the control group (22 males and 15 females at age of 56.84±11.14 years). The average operation time of the observation group was longer than that of the control group, and the incidence of anhelation was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistcal differences in blood loss, length of hospital stay, moderate or above fever rate, degree of cough and chest pain, or blood routine between the two groups. ConclusionIt is safe and feasible to perform lung cancer surgery early after recovery for COVID-19 patients with lung cancer.
