How does the type of thoracotomy affect the patient quality of life? A short form-36 health survey study

We evaluated whether the quality of life was affected in patients who had undergone various types of thoracotomy using the Short Form-36 Health Survey. The patients who had undergone thoracotomy for diagnosis or treatment between January and September 2011 in the Thoracic Surgery Department were investigated to determine the effect of the type of thoracotomy on the quality of life using the Short Form-36 Health Survey. The patients were classified into three groups. In Group I, the latissimus dorsi and the serratus anterior had both been preserved, and there was no muscle dissection, in Group II the latissimus dorsi muscle had been dissected and only the serratus anterior muscle has been preserved, and in Group III both muscles had been dissected, and the standard posterolateral muscle dissection had been performed. A total of 101 patients comprising 64 males (63.37 %) and 37 females (36.63 %), with a median age of 38 years, were included in this study. There were significant differences in all quality of life subscales between Groups I and III and between Groups II and III. The patients in Group I had the highest scores, while the patients in Group III had the lowest scores. There were no significant differences in five of the eight Short Form-36 subscales and one of the two summary scores values between Group I and Group II in females. We investigated the effect of the type of thoracotomy on the patient quality of life using the Short Form-36 Health Survey, and found that the standard posterolateral thoracotomy had a marked adverse effect on the quality of life compared to muscle-sparing thoracotomy. We also found that it is possible to use thoracotomy with serratus preservation rather than muscle-sparing thoracotomy in cases with benign diseases where a large field of view is required, such as for decortication and pulmonary hydatid cysts, without any significant decrease in the quality of life, especially in females.