Surgery for pulmonary metastases. Who are the 10-year sruviors?

Background. Surgical resection of pulmonary metastases (PMs) has been shown to produce approximately 35% 5-year survival rate, but specific data about late survival are not available in the literature. Methods. A retrospective review and survival analysis of 186 adult patients who underwent surgery for PMs at a single center before June 1984 is presented. Results. Of the 186 patients who had surgery, of whom 34 (18%) had an incomplete resection, the 10-year survival rate (Kaplan-Meier) was 23% (95% CI, 16-30%), and 36 patients, with PMs from nine different primary sites, were still at risk at 10 years. Two patients died of their primary disease more than 10 years after the first thoracotomy, and two are alive with uncontrolled disease. Thirty-one patients are currently alive and disease free. Comparison between the 36 10-year survivors and the 150 nonsurvivors revealed that only the percentage of incomplete resections and the mean number of resections per patient were significantly different between the two groups (P