Residual Destructive Lesions and Surgical Outcome in Mycobacterium avium Complex Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Successful surgical treatment of patients with Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease is thought to require complete removal of parenchymal destructive lesions. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term and long-term outcomes and the predictors of microbiological recurrence after surgery for M avium complex pulmonary disease. We conducted a retrospective review of 184 patients undergoing unilateral lung resection for M avium complex pulmonary disease at a single center in Japan between January 2008 and December2017. Median age of the 184 patients was 55.5 years; 133 were female (72.3%). All but 2 patients had anatomical lung resection. A total of 116 patients had limited disease and underwent complete resection (63.0%); theremaining 68 patients had extensive disease and underwentdebulking surgery (37.0%). No operative mortalities occurred. In 18 of 184 patients, 21 morbidities occurred (9.8%), including 3 bronchopleural fistulas (1.6%). Postoperative sputum-negative status was achieved in183patients (99.5%). Microbiological recurrences occurred in 15 patients (8.2%). By multivariate analysis, extensive disease was an independent risk factor for recurrence (hazard ratio, 5.432; 95% confidence interval, 1.372-21.50; P= .016). Recurrence-free rates were significantly higher in patients with limited disease compared with those with extensive disease (99.0%, 97.4%, and 95.0% versus 93.0%, 89.2%, and 75.1% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively; P < .001). Complete resection of parenchymal destructive lesions can achieve excellent microbiological control for patients with limited M avium complex pulmonarydisease. The efficacy of debulking surgery inpatients with extensive disease needs further investigation.