Lung cancer surgery inHIV-infected patients: An analysis of postoperative complications and long-term survival

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors of postoperative complications and reliable prognostic factors of long-term survival in HIV-infected patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods HIV-infected patients with NSCLC who underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively studied; a single-institutional analysis was conducted from November 2011 to August 2018. Pre- and postoperative clinical data, including age, gender, smoking history, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), CD4+ T cell count, HIV viral load, cancer histology, clinical and pathological stage (p-stage), surgical result, Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), survival time and postoperative complications were collected. Results A total of 33 HIV-infected patients with NSCLC were enrolled of which 18 (54.7%) had preoperative comorbidities and postoperative complications were observed in 22 (66.7%) patients. Thirty-day mortality was not observed in these patients. Median survival time after surgery was 65 months: the MST of p-stage I patients was 65 months; p-stage II MST was unestimable; p-stage III MST was 21 months. Univariate analyses showed that postoperative complications were associated with HIV viral load (P= 0.002), CCI (P= 0.027), HAART (P= 0.028) and CD4+ T cell count (P= 0.045). However, multiple logistic regression analysis showed no correlation between HAART and postoperative complications. The p-stage was an independent prognostic factor for survival time. Conclusions In our single-arm retrospective analysis, the risk factors for postoperative complications in HIV-infected patients with NSCLC were HIV viral load, CCI and CD4+ T cell counts. The p-stage was a predictive factor for long-term survival.