Objective: To evaluate the prognostic factors for patients who underwent curative resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer.
Methods: The clinicopathological data of 60 patients with pulmonary metastases from colorectal carcinoma who underwent a radical pulmonary metastasectomy between February 1985 and December 2004 at the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.
Results: The overall 5-year survival rate was 43.7% after pulmonary excision and 74.0% after colorectal resection. Three factors were identified as significant by univariate log-rank test for overall survival after pulmonary resection, they were preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen, number of pulmonary metastases (solitary vs. multiple), and hilar and/or mediastinal lymph node metastases (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that number of pulmonary metastases (solitary vs. multiple) and hilar and/or mediastinal lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors. However, shorter disease-free interval and more number of pulmonary metastases predicted poor prognosis after primary colorectal resection.
Conclusion: Pulmonary resection for metastases from colorectal cancer is safe and patients may get long-term survival in selected cases, especially in patients with a solitary pulmonary metastasis and without hilar and/or mediastinal lymph node metastasis.