Figure 3.

Types of thoracotomy surgeries and their complications recorded in guideline-consistent vs guideline-inconsistent care stratified according to disease stage. ^aMajor resection is defined as any thoracotomy with segmentectomy, lobectomy, pneumonectomy, tracheal resection, or chest wall resection. Diagnostic/staging surgery is defined as thoracotomy not involving any major resection. If a major therapeutic resection was performed and the patient had stage II disease, the complications were not counted. If a major therapeutic resection was performed and the patient had stage III disease, complications were counted. N is the number of patients for each group, and n is the number with that complication. Strata with ≤ 10 patients were suppressed as per National Cancer Institute policy and are reported as “< a number” to ensure confidentiality. For the guideline-consistent group, there were a total of 88 hemorrhage complications (63 arising from major resections in patients with stage III disease, and 25 arising from patients with stage II and III disease undergoing diagnostic/staging surgeries). There were a total of 49 respiratory failure complications (34 arising from major resections in patients with stage III disease, and 15 arising from patients with stage II and III disease undergoing diagnostic/staging surgeries). In the guideline-inconsistent group, there were a total of 111 respiratory failure complications, 91 from major resections, and 20 from patients with stage II and III disease undergoing diagnostic/staging surgeries. See Figure 1 legend for expansion of abbreviation.