National Emphysema Treatment Trial

Introduction

Study: 1218 patients with advanced emphysema

lung resection vs medical treatment (randomized)

Results:

• unacceptable high mortality in 70 surgically treated patients with FEV1 < 20% of predicted
• mortality higher in surgical group vs medically treated group (7.9% vs 1.3%)
• mortality 26% in both groups at 29 months
• patient with predominantly upper lobe emphysema
  • those with low baseline exercise tolerance had lower mortality with surgery than medical treatment (19% vs 34%)
  • those with higher baseline exercise tolerance had higher mortality with surgery than medical treatment (25% vs 13%)
• at 24 months, more surgical patients than medically-treated patients experienced improved exercise capacity (15% vs 3%) & health-related quality of life (33% vs 9%)

More general terms

• clinical trial