[Surgical treatment for multiple bilateral pulmonary metastatic tumors]

To date, 162 patients with metastatic pulmonary tumors have undergone surgical treatment in our institute (93 carcinomas, 51 sarcomas, 17 germ cell tumors, 1 melanoma). Of these, 57 and 105 had solitary and multiple lesions, respectively, at their first surgery. Five of 57 patients developed additional lesions later. The incidence of multiple pulmonary metastases was higher in sarcoma than in cancer patients, and the prognosis after surgical treatment was found to be significantly better in cancer than in sarcoma for patients with multiple lesions. However, no significant difference was observed between the survival of those with solitary and multiple lesions. The number of lesions found at surgery was greater than that calculated based on preoperative chest CT scans, and the discrepancy was greater when lesions exceeded 10 in number. However, the increase in the number of metastatic lesions found did not affect the surgical results. There was also no statistical difference in survival between patients with bilateral and unilateral lesions. In contrast, those who underwent complete had a significantly better prognosis than those who underwent incomplete resection at surgery.