TY - JOUR T1 - Improvements in lung cancer surgery JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - 1909 AU - Trond-Eirik Strand AU - Kristian Bartnes AU - Hans Rostad Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/1909.abstract N2 - Background: Recent trends in outcomes of lung cancer treatment might challenge recommendations for acceptable care.Methods: Using data from the Cancer Registry of Norway, we analyzed outcomes and quality indicators of lung cancer surgery in the periods 1994-1995, 2000-2001 and 2006-2007.Results: A total of 2201 patients were operated on during the study periods. Surgery was performed at 24 hospitals during the first two periods and at 13 in the last. Resection rates varied among counties from 7% to 31%. From the first to the last period, national resection rates increased from 16% to 19% (p for trend=0.001) and one-year survival increased from 73% to 82%. The proportion of resected patients in pStage I-II decreased from 87% to 83% (p for trend=0.048), the proportion of pneumonectomies from 27% to 15% (p for trend<0.001) and the mortality rate within 30 days of the surgery from 4.8% to 3.0% (p for trend=0.072). In the first two periods, 31% of these early deaths were caused by surgical complications, whereas in the latter period non were. The only unfavorable trend observed was the waiting time from the final diagnostic procedure to surgery, which increased from 29 to 40 days throughout the periods (p<0.001).Conclusions: Important aspects of lung cancer surgery have improved in recent years and the recommendations for certain quality indicators are challenged. The most important is that the resection rates should be further increased towards a putative optimum exceeding 25%. ER -