[Comparison of patterns of metastasis between malignant pleural mesotheliomas and pulmonary carcinomas]

Starting with the question whether there is a principal difference in the metastatic behaviour of pleural mesothelioma and pulmonary tumors, a detailed retrospective study of the findings of 210 post-mortem examinations between the years of 1992 to 1999 was conducted. The spectrum of metastatic sites is very large in malignant pulmonary carcinomas (n = 148) as well as in malignant pleural mesotheliomas (n = 62). There is no significant difference in the TMN-staging between both tumor groups at the time of death. One exception was the brain: there were significantly more metastases from the pulmonary tumors. Carcinomas metastasized more frequently into the skeleton, the kidneys and the adrenal glands, while metastases of mesotheliomas were more often found in the peritoneum. As of the moment there is no significant difference in the pattern of metastasis between both tumor groups discernible.