대한대장항문학회

Isolated lung metastasis occurs in about 1% of all colorectal cancer cases. As in the case<br>of isolated liver metastasis, resection of isolated lung metastasis results in 5 year survival<br>rate of about 30%. Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate the survival benefit after<br>pulmonary resection for metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods : Between January, 1992 and<br>March, 1998, twelve patients underwent lung metastatectomy from colorectal cancer at the<br>Seoul National University Hospital. We evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients and<br>analyzed the follow-up results in 10 patients whose medical records were available.<br>Indications for resection of pulmonary metastasis were complete resection of the primary<br>tumor, no other organ involvement except lung, completely resectable lung lesion, and<br>tolerable general condition of patient for lung resection. Results : Two patients had their<br>primary tumors located in colon and 8 in rectum. Synchronous lung metastases were<br>observed in 3 patients, and 7 patients had metachronous metastases developing 9 to 121<br>months (median; 33 months) after primary tumor resection. Eight patients had solitary<br>metastatic nodule in lung, while two patients had multiple lesions confined to unilateral lung.<br>Five patients underwent wedge resections, 4 underwent pulmonary lobectomies, and one<br>patient had both wedge resection and lobectomy in unilateral lung. Three patients were lost<br>during the follow-up, but remaining 7 patients are alive after median follow-up of period of<br>32 months and 6 of these patients have no postoperative recurrence. In addition, four of these<br>7 patients are alive for more than 3 years after lung metastatectomy. Conclusion : Pulmonary<br>metastasis from colorectal cancer without other organ involvement may be a candidate for<br>lung resection. However, further studies are needed to determine the survival benefits after<br>pulmonary resection.<br>