Enhancing surgical outcomes in bronchiectasis : predicting early surgical complications with the bronchiectasis severity index

Objective: Bronchiectasis is defined as the irreversible dilation of the large and smaller airways. This study is a retrospective data analysis of patients with localized bronchiectasis who underwent anatomical resection at our institution. The aim of the study was to detect quality of life improvements after lung resection in localized bronchiectasis patients. Material and Method: 68 patients were evaluated between the years 2001 and 2019. Patient demographics, pathological data, preoperative period, Bronchiectasis Severity Index (BSI) score, and long-term outcomes were reviewed. We selected patients who had undergone anatomical resection. Cases of unrelated deaths or of lost data during the follow-up period were excluded. Result: The median age was 26, and the female and male ratio was nearly even. Pediatric patients are defined as individuals under the age of 17 and 26 patients were in the pediatric group. The preoperative BSI score was calculated on each patient. Seven patients had expected high readmission rates and high mortality rates, according to their high BSI score, but after the surgery period none of those patients needed to be re -hospitalized due to bronchiectasis. 14 patients had VATS procedures and 54 patients were operated on via thoracotomy. The average postoperative hospital stay was 13 days for all patient groups. Patients who had had VATS stayed in the hospital for eight days, but those who had had open surgery remained for 14 days (p=0.167). Based on the subgroup analysis, it was observed that patients with a severity score of nine or higher experienced in-creased complication rates (p=0.35). Conclusion: Even for patients with a high BSI score, surgery is a reliable option if clinical parameters are compatible. BSI shows the predictive value of postoperative complications. Patients should be evaluated in multidisiplinary centers. In making sur-gical decisions, experienced pulmonologists and thoracic sur-geons are needed so that the best time for surgery is decided upon.