Surgical treatment of pulmonary metastasis: report from a tertiary care center

Abstract

Objective This retrospective analysis aimed to determine the factors influencing prognosis in adult patients who presented to our thoracic surgery service with lung metastases and were eligible for pulmonary metastasectomy. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the data of 296 patients who underwent resection of 575 lung metastases from January 2000 to January 2016. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed based on age, sex, histology of the primary tumor, disease-free interval, number and size of metastases. Results Sixty-eight (22.97%) patients developed lung metastases from bone sarcoma, 68 (22.97%) from soft-tissue sarcoma, 56 (18.9%) from head and neck cancers, 46 (15.5%) from colorectal cancer, and 58 (19.6%) from other epithelial tumors. The mean size of the lung nodules was 2.48 cm. Open surgical resection was performed in 217 (73.3%) patients. After a mean follow-up of 43 months, 120 (40.7%) patients had died or were lost to follow-up. Univariate analysis confirmed that patients with bone cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, or colorectal carcinoma had a worse prognosis ( p = 0.0003). Moreover, those with a disease-free interval >24 months had a better 5-year survival ( p = 0.0001). The number and size of metastases, age, and sex had no effect on prognosis. The actuarial survival after complete metastasectomy was 71.6% (95% confidence interval: 66–75) at 2 years and 59.3% (95% confidence interval: 56–64) at 5 years. Conclusions Pulmonary metastasectomy provides good long-term survival. The type of primary tumor and disease-free interval are independent prognostic factors for survival.