Methods: Fifty-four patients underwent completion pneumonectomy in our clinic between June 1987 and June 2008. Patients were divided into two groups according to their indications for completion pneumonectomy, either for a complication of the previous operation or a new disease in the remaining lung.
Results: The overall complication rate was 42.5%, and this morbidity was significantly higher in the complication group (p=0.04). The overall mortality rate was 22%, and age was found as the only factor affecting mortality (p=0.03).
Conclusion: The experience that we had over 20 years and the other information from the literature pointed out that the complications in the first operations adversely affected the outcome rather than the procedure itself in completion pneumonectomy.