Surgical treatment of pulmonary metastases.

Pulmonary metastases from many primary sources were treated by surgery in 42 patients. The seven-year survival rate was 10%. A long time interval between the operation on the primary tumor and the metastatic lung lesion was associated with a better prognosis. The survival rates for patients with carcinomas and sarcomas were nearly equal equal after removal of pulmonary metastases. The patients with melanoma died soon after lung resections. The location of the metastases in the lower lung lobes had a better prognosis than that of metastases in the upper lobes. In this material there was a patient who, after treatment of the primary tumor, needed three thoracotomies to remove eight pulmonary metastases from both lungs. The patient was alive and free from all signs of recurrence 20 years after the first removal of pulmonary metastases.