[Lung metastases secondary to bronchopulmonary cancer]

The goal of this study is to establish the surgical options in the management of patients with lung metastases secondary to lung cancer.

A retrospective study was performed on 34 patients admitted in our hospital between January 2000 and June 2009.

Most of the patients were males over 45 years old. There are 2 groups: one (the most numerous) represents the patients in whom the metastases were discovered concomitantly with the symptomatic primary lung tumor and the other group consists in patients who previously underwent surgery and in whom the metastases were detected at imagistic postoperative follow-ups after a variable disease-free interval of time ranging from 5 months to 11 years. The therapeutic option most commonly used in the first-group patients was pneumonectomy and wedge resection in the second group. Post-operative evolution was favourable in 88% of the cases.

The surgical treatment of lung metastases secondary to lung cancer is a valuable therapeutic option. When surgical treatment is indicated the most frequently used technique is wedge resection followed by pneumonectomy. The postoperative imaging follow-ups play an important role in the early detection of lung metastases developing after the surgical management of the primary lung tumour.