Objective: To evaluate the effects that pulmonary resection has on pulmonary function and quality of life (QoL) in patients with primary or metastatic lung cancer. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study involving all patients submitted to pulmonary resection for cancer between September of 2006 and March of 2007 at the A. C. Camargo Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. Patients underwent spirometry in the preoperative period and at six months after the surgical procedure. After a postoperative period of six months, the patients completed an overall QoL questionnaire (the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-form Health Survey) and another one, specific for respiratory symptoms (the Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire). The scores obtained in our study were compared with those previously obtained for a general population and for a population of patients with COPD. Results: We included 33 patients (14 males and 19 females), ranging in age from 39 to 79 years. All of the patients, smokers and nonsmokers alike, presented significant worsening of pulmonary function. The mean scores on the overall QoL questionnaire were approximately 5% lower than those obtained for the general population. The scores of various domains of the symptom-specific QoL questionnaire were 50-60% lower than those obtained for the general population and approximately 20% higher than those obtained for the population with COPD. Conclusions: Pulmonary resection has a direct negative impact on pulmonary function and QoL, especially on the QoL related to aspects directly linked to pulmonary function. We highlight the importance of preoperative assessment of pulmonary function in patients undergoing pulmonary resection, in order to predict their postoperative evolution.

Keywords: Thoracic surgery; Lung neoplasms/surgery; Spirometry; Quality of life; Questionnaires.