Pulmonary Metastasectomy; Analyse and Clinical Overview of 20 Patients

Abstract

It has been revealed that metastasectomy surgery performed on patients whose primary tumor is under control and who have only lung metastases can show better survival after complete surgical resection compared to cases with multiple organ metastases. In our study, we retrospectively shared our experience with metastasectomies and their impact on survival. In our clinic, 20 patients (12 men, 8 women; average age 49 years) who were operated on due to metastasis detected in the lung between 2010 and 2020 were retrospectively examined. Patients were determined according to age, gender, primary tumor pathology, disease-free time, radiologically and surgically. It was evaluated according to the number of metastatic lesions detected, the type of operation and the follow-up period. Respiratory function tests were performed on all patients. Patients with isolated pulmonary lesions whose primary tumors were under control underwent resection if their cardiopulmonary status was suitable for resection. Three of the twenty patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and the other 17 patients underwent open thoracotomy, for a total of 28 metastasectomy operations. While the number of nodules detected before the operation was 39, a total of 51 nodules were excised during the operation. No major complications were observed. While 9 of our patients died due to widespread metastases within the 5-year postoperative period, 11 patients are being followed up disease-free without pulmonary metastases. It is known that metastasectomy positively affects survival in cases with isolated pulmonary metastases whose primary tumor is under control. The possibility of missing radiological findings when evaluating the number of nodules still makes the importance of open surgical treatment and digital palpation current in metastasectomy.