Patients who have had one operation to remove lung tumors that have spread from cancer in their colon or rectum can have good outcomes with a second and even third lung surgery.
Surgeons in Seoul, South Korea reviewed outcomes for 202 patients who had surgery to remove a colorectal cancer metastasis in their lungs (pulmonary metastasectomy).
After a median follow-up of 28.9 months, 48 patients had a second lung surgery. Of those, 28 patients had cancer return in their lungs again, and 10 had a third operation to remove lung tumors.
- For the 48 patients who had a second lung surgery, overall survival at five years was 79 percent, with 49 percent of patients having no sign of cancer at that time.
- For the 10 patients with a third surgery, overall survival five years later was 78 percent.
Writing in the Annals of Oncology, J.S. Park and colleagues concluded,
Repeated resection after initial metastasectomy can be carried out safely and provides long-term survival in patients with recurrent pulmonary metastasis from colorectal cancer. Our findings indicate that close follow-up for the early detection of recurrence and parenchyma-saving resection can improve the results after repeated resection.
SOURCE: Park et al., Annals of Oncology, Advance Access, October 27, 2009.
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