Surgical resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer

Fourteen patients with known primary colorectal adenocarcinoma underwent pulmonary resection for its pulmonary metasoasis. The cumurative survival rate at five years was 25.7% in all patients and 37.5% in 9 patients with a solitary metastasis. One of two patients with both pulmonary and hepatic metastases survived 33 months with no evidence of recurrence after pulmonary and hepatic resection. Although none of seven patients with tumor smaller than 3.5 cm in diameter had regional lymph node metastasis, two of three patients with tumors larger than 3.6 cm in diameter had hilar lymph node metastases. Lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection may be recommended for the patient with large tumor.