Lymphadenectomy in metastasectomy

Although surgery for pulmonary metastases does not benefit a significant number of patients, PM should continue to be offered to patients whose primary tumor is controlled and who have acceptable operative risks. For a survival benefit to be achieved, all extrathoracic and pulmonary metastases must be amenable to complete surgical resection. We have shown that the presence of metastatically involved lymph nodes discovered during PM adversely effects survival in patients undergoing curative PM. We therefore continue to recommend complete mediastinal lymphadenectomy at the time of PM to define the patient's prognosis and perhaps to guide adjuvant therapy.