What happened, in summary

This man had Stage I squamous cell carcinoma in the right lower lobe of the lung and also had COPD. He was treated surgically without neoadjuvant therapy. Surgeons performed a sleeve right lower lobectomy with systematic lymph-node dissection and reconstructed the bronchus so the right middle lobe could be preserved. The goal was to achieve cancer control while avoiding the greater loss of lung tissue that would come with a lower bilobectomy. In follow-up, his measured respiratory function was comparable with his preoperative level and better than the value predicted for a larger lung resection. He remained alive and disease-free through 26 months of follow-up.