Factors affecting survival of patients who underwent surgical resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether the site of primitive tumor affects survival of patients with lung metastases who underwent curative surgical resection. A series of 32 consecutive patients with pulmonary metastases from colorectal (N=24) and noncolorectal cancer (N=8) who underwent pulmonary resection was reviewed. There were 27 (84.3%) men (median age 63 years, range 39-74 years), and five (15.6%) women (median age 62 years, range 42-73). Six patients had symptomatic pulmonary lesions. Twenty-one (65.6%) patients had a solitary metastatic tumor, and 11 (34.4%) had two or three lesions. The mean tumor size was 16.5±8.0 mm. No difference was noted in the survival rate according to both the number and size of metastatic tumors (p=NS), although patients with solitary and small lesions had a better survival than those with multiple ones. Nine patients died during follow-up. The overall survival was 26.5±2.6 months for patients with colorectal (Group A) vs. 25.2±13.8 months for patients with noncolorectal (Group B) cancer (p=0.32) as primitive tumor. In conclusion, in this short-term study, the pathological characteristics of metastatic lesions, as well as the site of primitive tumor, do not appear to be important prognostic determinants for survival.