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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
Thoracoscopic Extended Right Middle Plus Lower Sleeve Lobectomy for Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Published on: February 27, 2026
Surgical resection for lung metastases from colorectal cancer
Hyung Jin Kim1, Bong-Hyeon Kye, Jae Im Lee
1Department of Surgery, The Catholic University of Korea School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Purpose:
The lung is the second most common site of metastasis from colorectal cancer. Of all patients who undergo a curative resection for colorectal cancer, 10% to 15% will develop lung metastasis. As a hepatic resection of colorectal liver metastases results in improved survival, many reports have suggested that a pulmonary resection of a colorectal lung metastasis would also improve survival. The aim of this study was to analyze the postoperative outcomes of and the prognostic factors for a surgical resection of a lung metastasis.
Methods:
Between August 1997 and March 2006, 27 patients underwent surgical resections for colorectal lung metastases at Seoul St. Mary's hospital. A retrospective review of patients' characteristics and various tumor factors was performed.
Results:
The mean interval between colorectal resection and lung metastasis was 24.0 ± 15.1 months. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 76.5% and 22.2%, respectively. The mean follow-up after pulmonary resection was 39.5 ± 21.6 months (range, 3.3 to 115 months). Except for the existence of hilar-lymph-node metastasis (P < 0.001), no risk factors that we studied were statistically significant. Two patients had hilar-lymph-node metastasis. They survived for only for 3.3- and 11.6-months, respectively.
Conclusion:
In our study, we found that a pulmonary resection for metastases from colorectal cancer may improve survival in selected patients.
