Treatment of Metastatic Lesions to the Lung

Our plain-English summary of Treatment of Metastatic Lesions to the Lung, by A. Ochsner (1965).

The study

• Author: A. Ochsner
• Published: The Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association 63(6):411-414 June (1965)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article concerns surgery to remove cancers that have spread (metastasized) to the lung. It does not discuss asbestos. The author first surveyed reports by other surgeons, then described the Ochsner Clinic experience in New Orleans: 25 patients with lung metastases who had 28 operations. Fourteen had carcinomas and eleven had sarcomas, from various original sites. There were no operative or hospital deaths. Among the 25 patients, the author reported survival of 57 per cent after one year, 27 per cent after five years and 20 per cent after ten years. The two patients with testicular tumors were living more than ten years after operation. All three patients with osseous (bone) malignant lesions died within three years. Among the 16 patients who had died, the median time between removal of the original tumor and the lung operation was thirty-nine months, compared with fifty months in the nine living patients. The author noted that the series was small and that the figures left much to be desired. The author concluded that removing lung metastases in suitable cases is worthwhile.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Survey of published reports by other surgeons combined with a case series from the author's clinic
• Who was studied: 25 patients with pulmonary metastasis treated surgically at the Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans (dates not stated). 14 had carcinomas and 11 had sarcomas.
• Main results:
  • 28 operations were done on the 25 patients, three of whom had two operations. There were no operative or hospital deaths.
  • Among the 25 Ochsner Clinic patients, survival was 57 per cent after one year
  • Among the 25 patients, survival was 27 per cent after five years and 20 per cent after ten years
  • The two patients with testicular tumors were both living more than ten years after operation
  • All three patients with osseous malignant lesions (two osteogenic sarcoma, one fibrosarcoma) died within three years
  • In the 16 dead patients, the median interval between removal of the original tumor and the lung operation was thirty-nine months. In the nine living patients it was fifty months.
  • The shortest survival in the group was three months and the longest one hundred and ninety-one months
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that resection of lung metastases is worthwhile when the outlined conditions are met, since without operation survival would probably be zero
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the series is small
  • The author stated that the survival statistics leave much to be desired

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinoma, Sarcoma.

Browse return to medical research.