5 and 10 years results of surgical treatment of lung metastases

: This is a report on 105 patients who had 125 thoracotomies for 188 lung metastases between 1960 and 1987. The cumulative survival rate at 5 years was 39% and 24% at 10 years and 13% at 15 years. The median survival is 3.7 years, the average survival is 7 years due to prolonged follow-up. With combined modality therapy, testicular and uterine cancers yielded the best survival results with a 5-year survival rate of 100% and 67%, respectively. In multi-variate analysis, response to prior chemotherapy, local tumor extent (intrapulmonary versus extrapulmonary disease) and venous drainage (caval type versus portal type) were the most important prognostic factors whereas the number of metastases and the interval between primary tumor and lung metastases were of minor prognostic importance. The present results are compared with long-term results of other centres and emphasize the importance of resection in combined modality therapy concepts of lung metastases.