Resection of metastatic lung tumor: the evaluation of histologic appearance in the lung.

The analysis of the data resulting from 58 operations for metastatic lung tumors is presented. The surgical procedures performed were unilateral lung tumor resection in 27 cases and bilateral lung tumor resection in 13 cases. The total cumulative five year survival rate was 41 per cent. The resected tumors were divided into two types according to the histologic appearance of the tumor margin: infiltrative and non-infiltrative (pseudo-capsulated). The cumulative five year survival rates were 14.7 per cent and 53.2 per cent, respectively. Lymph node metastasis was found in four patients with the infiltrative type of metastatic tumor.