BACKGROUND: Sleeve lobectomy of the main bronchus has been proposed to spare lung tissue in patients who cannot tolerate pneumonectomy because of impaired lung function. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether sleeve lobectomy can preserve lung function as expected from preoperative evaluation of lung function in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. METHOD: Between January 1995 and March 1998, 15 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent sleeve resection were evaluated. Preoperative evaluations included spirometry and quantitative lung perfusion scan, from which predicted postoperative FEV1 was calculated. At least 3 months after operation follow up spirometry and bronchoscopy were performed. Predicted FEV1 was compared with measured postoperative FEV1. RESULT: Fourteen men and one woman, with median age of 58 years, were reviewed. The diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma in 13 patients and adenocarcinoma of lung in 2 patients. Our results showed a excellent preservation of pulmonary function after sleeve lobectomy. Correlation between the predicted (mean, 2180 +/- 570mL) and measured FEV1 (mean, 2293 +/- 499mL) was good ( r = 0.67, P< 0.05 ). Furthermore, patient with low FEV1 (<2L) showed improved lung function after sleeve lobectomy. CONCLUSION: These findings indicated a complete recovery of the reimplanted lung lobes after sleeve lobectomy. Therefore, this technique could be safely used in lung cancer patients with impaired lung function.