Surgical management of pulmonary metastasis from carcinoma of the uterine cervix

: The present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of surgical management of pulmonary metastasis from carcinoma of the uterine cervix. We saw 609 cases of carcinoma of the uterine cervix from 1979 to 1987, and during the same period also saw 110 cases of recurrent carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Fourteen of these 110 cases were identified as having pulmonary metastasis, and in 11 of 14 cases the recurrent tumors were limited to the lung. Seven of these 11 cases underwent pulmonary resection. Six of the 7 survived more than 2 years after pulmonary resection. Among them, 1 patient has survived more than 4 years, and 1 patient more than 8 years. The tumor cells were thought to metastasize to the lung through the vertebral venous plexus (Batson's plexus) which was suggested as a metastatic route by Thomford et al. in their report on recurrent colon cancer. As a result of this study, if the recurrent tumor is clinically limited to the lung in patients with recurrent carcinoma of the uterine cervix, they should be treated by surgical resection of the pulmonary tumor.