Liver Metastases From Lung Cancer: Is Surgical Resection Justified?

Di Carlo, Isidoro MD, PhD
Grasso, Giuseppe MD
Patane', Domenico MD
Russello, Domenico MD
Latteri, Ferdinando MD

^aDepartment of Surgical Sciences, Organs Transplantation and Advanced Technologies, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
^bDepartments of Department of Pathology, Cannizzaro Hospital, Catania, Italy
^cDepartment of Radiology, Cannizzaro Hospital, Catania, Italy

Address reprint requests to Prof Di Carlo, Department of Surgical Sciences, Organs Transplantation and Advanced Technologies, University of Catania, Cannizzaro Hospital, Via Messina, Catania 95126, Italy; e-mail: [email protected].

Accepted for publication Dec 23, 2002.

The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 76(1):p 291-293, July 2003. | DOI: 10.1016/S0003-4975(03)00149-8

Resection of the liver for metastatic lesions has largely been done for secondary colorectal or neuroendocrine tumors, and there is little information of its value for other lesions. Recent improvements in hepatic surgery have made resection of metastases a safe procedure and it should certainly be considered whenever there is an isolated lesion. We report the case of a successful resection of an isolated secondary hepatic lesion from a lung primary tumor, which was resected approximately 4 years beforehand. A review of the literature demonstrates that although early reports of similar procedures were not favorable, more recent reports reinforce the value of an aggressive approach in favorable cases.