OBJECTIVES: With 30,651 new cases diagnosed in 2005, lung cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in France and the first in terms of mortality, with 26,624 deaths per year. The survival rate at 5 years is less than 15%. The purpose of this study was to describe the 2 years hospital undertaking of patients with a resection of lung tumor and to estimate associated hospital costs. METHODS: The 2006 to 2008 PMSI French hospital databases were used. Patients with a resection linked to a lung cancer (ICD10 diagnoses: C33* and C34*) in 2006 were identified and followed-up during 2 years. Hospital stays, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions were extracted and associated costs (excluding expensive drugs) were assessed using DRG. Kaplan Meier method was applied to estimate associated costs over time, by taking into account survival probabilities. RESULTS: In 2006, 8798 patients were hospitalized for a resection of lung tumor of which 75.8% were men. Mean age at inclusion was 62.4 years; 2343 patients (26.6%) died in hospital during follow-up. The mean number of hospitalizations for repeated surgery was 0.11 per patient, 2.00 for radiotherapy sessions, 2.99 for chemotherapy sessions and 2.57 for other hospitalizations. Total mean hospital cost per patient was estimated at €16,169.89 for the 2 years follow-up. First surgery account for 48%, repeated surgeries for 6%, radiotherapy session for 2%, chemotherapy sessions for 8% and other hospitalizations for 37%. First month of first year supported half of the total cost, and first year bore 86% of it. CONCLUSIONS: In France, lung resections for cancer represent a heavy charge for hospitals. During the follow-up period, major burden is dedicated to hospital stays especially for the first months. These results could be relevant to estimate the impact of coming drugs which will be associated to resection of lung tumor.