Lung mets can be successfully resected -- Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2003 -- Among carefully selected colorectal cancer patients, surgery to remove lung metatases results in survival time of more than five years in about 1/3 of cases.

Patients included in the study had their primary tumor under control and no metatasis outside the lungs. Surgeons expected to be able to remove all lung disease.

The overall 5-year survival in 167 patients was 32.4%. A single metatasis led to survival in considerly more patients (45%) than those with more than one met (19.8%). In addition, a normal CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen less than 5 ng/ml) led to better survival with 48.2% of patients with low CEA surviving more than 5 years, as compared to 22.7% of those with higher CEA's.

Joachim Pfannschmidt, MD and his colleagues in Heidelberg, Germany reported their findings in J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;126:732-739.

Read the abstract here.