ENDOBRONCHIAL METASTASIS - CLINICAL MANIF ESTATIONS, DIAGNOSIS AND EVOLUTION IN A SERIES OF 27 CASES

Our 10-year experience is reviewed of 27 cases of endobronchial metast asis diagnosed by bronchoscopy. Primary tumors were breast (15 cases), kidney, bladder, rectum and melanoma (two cases each), and stomach, g ingiva, amygdala and penis (one case each). Their presentation was pri or to primary neoplasm in two patients, simultaneously in three, and p osterior in the remaining patients (mean 64+/-52 months). Half of pati ents also had extrathoracic metastasis. In cases of breast cancer syst emic chemotherapy was administered and the median survival rate was 24 months, significantly longer than in the remaining group (3 months); in the later, symptomatic therapy predominated due to the common invol vement of lung parenchyma and functional deterioration of patients.