Surgical resection of pulmonary metastases.

Since the first pulmonary resection for metastatic carcinoma to lung in 1939, this procedure can now be offered to any patient who fills the following criteria: has a controlled primary, resectable lung lesion, has no better treatment method available, and is a good surgical risk. With the increased incidence of this procedure, more and more attention is being directed to the predictors of survival to determine which patients will obtain the best benefit. Disease-free interval, tumor doubling time, and number of lesions are discussed with the effect each has on survival. This paper covers our experience from 1965 to 1985 of 415 patients who underwent resection for primary carcinomas with metastases to lung. The overall mortality rate is 2%, morbidity rate under 10%, and survival rate best for testicular (51%), and head and neck primaries (47%). This procedure has a proven efficacy for increasing survival rates in properly selected patients.