A combined surgical approach to non-oat-cell pulmonary carcinoma with single cerebral metastasis

Eighty consecutive patients with pulmonary non-oat-cell carcinoma and a single cerebral metastasis were followed for at least 5 years after therapy. Forty were treated by surgical excision at both sites of disease plus whole-brain irradiation in most cases (group 1). The remaining 40 patients, an observational cohort, were treated either by surgery at only one site of disease (usually craniotomy), whole-brain irradiation, chemotherapy, or some combination of these modalities (group 2). The 1-year survival in group 2 was 15%, and all were dead at 2 years. In group 1, hospital mortality was 1.5%, the 1-year survival rate 35%, the 2-year survival rate 25%, and the 5-year survival rate 12.5%. All the five year survivors were patients with N0 disease. In this subgroup of group 1, the five year survival was 20%. All patients surviving for more than 2 years were in group 1 and had a Karnofsky rating greater than 50 and N0 disease after staging. These data indicate that a combined surgical approach can be accomplished with low morbidity, low mortality, and increased survival rates, especially for patients with N0 disease who are vigorous enough to undergo the combined treatment.