New Standards for Lung Surgery Issued

U.S. Mayo Clinic chest surgeons have created a list of patient-centered pre-op and post-op quality indicators for lung-surgery patients.

The team recommended that, before lung surgery, physicians should:

— Administer pulmonary function tests.

— Perform an electrocardiogram.

— Document the patient’s smoking history.

— Offer patients who are still smoking access to smoking-cessation therapy.

— Determine the stage of the patient’s cancer.

After surgery, the clinical team should:

— Teach the patient incentive spirometry (a breathing exercise that increases lung capacity and prevents pneumonia).

— Respond in a timely manner to heart-rhythm disturbances.

— Follow a protocol to prevent blood clots in deep veins.

— Keep the patient’s pain under control.

— Plan follow-up care with the patient before hospital discharge.

To compile their list, the team analyzed the records of 606 lung-surgery patients ages 2 to 93 who underwent 628 lung operations at the Mayo Clinic in one year.

Stephen Cassivi, a Mayo chest surgeon who led the research, said the data will have important practical applications since lung cancer claims more victims than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined, and surgery is the most effective treatment for the disease.

The researchers said they hope the Society of Thoracic Surgeons will adopt their proposal as their new standard of care.

Cassivi presented the data at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons held this week in San Diego.