Surgical resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal adenocarcinoma. Special reference to repeated pulmonary resections
M. Mori, H. Tomoda, T. Ishida, A. Kido, R. Shimono, T. Matsushima, H. Kuwano and K. Sugimachi
Second Department of Surgery, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Pulmonary resection of metastatic lesions from colorectal adenocarcinoma
was performed in 35 patients. The cumulative 5-year survival was 38%. The
primary site of cancer was the colon in about half of the patients.
Patients with a solitary metastasis or tumors smaller than 3 cm in diameter
survived longer than did patients with multiple metastases or tumors larger
than 3 cm but the differences were not significant. Other factors,
including age, sex, histologic grade of tumor, location and stage of
primary carcinoma, location of pulmonary metastases, disease-free interval,
and type of pulmonary resection, had no apparent influence on survival
time. The lung was the major site of recurrence following pulmonary
resection. Seven patients underwent two or more pulmonary resections for
metastasis from a colorectal carcinoma. At the time of last follow-up, four
patients were alive and free of recurrent disease at 5, 34, 39, and 58
months after the second pulmonary resection. These data suggest that some
patients will survive for a long time following pulmonary resection of
colorectal metastases, and for highly selected patients, repeated pulmonary
resection may further extend survival.
