Pulmonary metastases in Wilms' tumour

In a series of 87 patients with a diagnosis of Wilms' tumour seen at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children between 1960 and 1973, 15 patients had pulmonary metastases at the time of diagnosis and a further 22 patients developed pulmonary metastases within 18 months of their initial nephrectomy. The incidence of later development of metastases was very much greater in those patients with locally advanced primary tumours than in those with a completely resectable, encapsulated tumour. In both groups of patients the disease-free survival rate was closely related to initial local tumour staging. In the whole series there were 11/37 (42-5%) patients with pulmonary metastases who survived disease-free for two or more years following treatment. The survival rate was highest in those patients who had a solitary pulmonary metastasis which was surgically resected (5/6); this type of lesion was seen only in those patients who had a localised primary tumour. In those patients with multiple pulmonary metastases, treated with irradiation to the whole lungs and single-agent chemotherapy, there were only 6/31 disease-free survivors; this group of patients all had advanced primary tumours and there was a high incidence of associated abdominal recurrence. The need for multiple agent chemotherapy in conjunctin with surgery and radiotherapy, both as prophylaxis against and in the treatment of metastases from Wilms' tumour is stressed.