Relationship between gender and perioperative clinical features in lung cancer patients who underwent VATS lobectomy

Objectives: Compare the differences in perioperative clinical characteristics of lung cancer patients of different genders who have undergone VATS lobectomy, and explore the impact of these differences on the short-term prognosis of patients.

Methods: A total of 338 consecutive patients with lung cancer who underwent VATS lobectomy in our hospital from August 2021 to August 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, they were divided into male group and female group. The perioperative characteristics and short-term prognosis of different groups were compared. The multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors.

Results: There were statistically significant differences between male and female patients in age of onset, body surface area (BSA), smoking rate, alcohol consumption rate, hypertension incidence, pulmonary function and clinical stage. There were statistically significant differences between male and female patients in operation time and lymph node dissection. The probability of postoperative complications, such as pulmonary infection, persistent air leakage and severe subcutaneous emphysema, in male patients was significantly higher than that in female patients. The average daily postoperative thoracic drainage volume in male patients was considerably higher than that in female patients, and the postoperative duration of thoracic drainage tube and hospital stay in male patients were significantly longer than those in female patients. After multiple regression analysis, low FEVI values in males was found to be an independent risk factor for postoperative complications.

Conclusions: Compared with female patients, male patients with lung cancer are more likely to have unfavorable factors such as older age, higher smoking rate, poor pulmonary function and late clinical stage of tumors when they undergoing VATS surgery treatment. The appropriate thoracic drainage time can be selected according to gender differences to shorten the length of hospital stay. The incidence of postoperative complications is higher in male patients, especially those with poor pulmonary function, and active perioperative intervention is required to reduce the incidence of postoperative complications.