PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN PULMONARY METASTASES FROM COLORECTAL-CANCER

Surgery represents the first-choice treatment to manage pulmonary meta stases from colorectal cancer when the primary tumor has been controll ed and there is no evidence of metastatic spreading to any other organ . In our experience on 13 patients, we obtained a survival at 5 years of 23%. The average number of metastases resected was 2.9. The increas e of carcinoembryonic antigen was the first clinical sign in 10 cases (76.9%, higher or equal to 5 ng/ml) that led to its discovery. The sur gical technique most frequently used was wedge resection and/or atypic al segmentectomy. Intraoperative mortality was zero and morbidity low (15.3%).