Impact of Smoking History on Postoperative Pulmonary Complications: A Review of Recent Lung Cancer Patients

Purpose: Smoking is a well-known risk factor for postoperative pulmonary complications. As a consequence of pre and postoperative procedures continuing to be developed, postoperative complications continue to decrease. In this study, smoking as a risk factor for postoperative pulmonary complications is studied. Methods: From January 2005 to June 2009, postoperative pulmonary complications and smoking factors were analyzed from among 232 lung cancer patients with a smoking history. Smoking factors included cessation duration and pack-years. Also, relationships between pulmonary complications and patient factors, including gender, age, histological features, surgery methods, pulmonary function test, and body mass index were analyzed. Results: Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that smoking factors were not significant risk factors for the development of postoperative pulmonary complications. Conclusion: Recently, the effect of smoking on the development of postoperative pulmonary complications has been reduced due to the increase in quality of pre and postoperative management and surgery procedures. Accordingly, there seems to be no need to delay operative procedures to secure a significant duration of smoking cessation duration in lung cancer patients.