Surgery for pulmonary metastasis: a 20-year experience

Area of Science:

• Surgical Oncology
• Thoracic Surgery
• Cancer Metastasis Research

Background:

• Pulmonary metastasis poses a significant challenge in cancer management.
• Surgical resection is a potential treatment modality for selected patients with lung metastases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and outcomes of surgical intervention for pulmonary metastasis.
• To identify factors influencing survival after pulmonary metastasectomy.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 556 patients undergoing surgery for pulmonary metastasis over 20 years.
• Inclusion criteria focused on complete disease removal and primary tumor control.
• Evaluation of adjunctive therapies and their impact on survival.

Main Results:

• Overall survival was 35% with a surgical mortality of 1.5%.
• Survival rates varied by primary tumor type, ranging from 24% (cervix) to 54% (urinary tract, male genital, uterine corpus).
• Adjuvant treatment showed a survival advantage, particularly for sarcoma patients.

Conclusions:

• Surgical resection of pulmonary metastasis can be successful with strict adherence to selection criteria.
• Systemic adjuvant treatment is necessary to improve outcomes when complete disease control is not achieved surgically.
• Further research into optimizing adjuvant therapies for pulmonary metastasis is warranted.