In the year 2000 lung cancer was operated in 349 patients in Norway, in 2010 the number was 461. In the first period fatal surgical hemorrhage occurred in eight patients, in four of them peroperatively. Postoperative hemorrhage occurred in four patients in the year 2000 and in two in 2010. Ten patients died intra- or postoperatively in the two periods which is a mortality rate within 30 days after surgery of 4.3% in the first and 1.1% in the second period. Pneumonectomy was performed in 34 patients in 2000 and eight in 2010, respectively. Altogether 19 patients died within six months after surgery without having experienced surgical complications. Pneumonectomy should not be performed in elderly and debilitated persons.