Surgery for multiple lung metastases from alveolar soft-part sarcoma

Between 1985 and 1993, six patients were surgically treated for alveolar soft-part sarcoma (ASPS) arising from the thighs or buttocks, four of whom underwent aggressive excision of multiple metastases using a neodymium:yttrium-aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser. In total, 333 tumors were removed from these four patients during eight pulmonary operations. In patients 1, 3, and 4, uncontrollable extrapulmonary involvement and/or local recurrence at the primary site were noted during their treatment course, and they died of tumor progression 40, 68, and 46 months after excision of the primary lesion, respectively. In patient 1, a 37-year-old woman, prolonged survival with adequate lung function was achieved after the excision of metastases, including one bulky metastatic tumor located adjacent to the mediastinum, which might have led to a lethal complication. Patient 3, a 25-year-old woman who underwent aggressive metastasectomies for both pulmonary and extrapulmonary metastases combined with intermittent chemotherapy, died of widespread metastases to multiple organs. On the other hand, patient 2, a 23-year-old woman who underwent excision of 130 pulmonary and three brain metastases during four thoracotomies and two craniotomies, is still alive without any symptoms 98 months after excision of the primary lesion. These data suggest that repeated excisions of lung metastases from ASPS may influence long-term survival or maintenance of good performance status in patients in whom extrapulmonary metastasis and recurrence are either absent or controlled.