Pulmonary metastasectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is seldom resectable due to advanced status. Even though hepatectomy is feasible, a large proportional of patients may still develops extrahepatic recurrence. Pulmonary metastasis is the most common site of extrahepatic spread. Few articles have discussed the benefit of resection for lung metastasis after curative hepatectomy. We evaluated the general information and the result of lung resection for patients having lung metastasis after curative resection of HCC.

Methods: Six patients who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy for HCC at Taipei Veterans General Hospital between August 1995 and May 2004 were enrolled in the study. All of them had received the hepatectomy for primary HCC. The demographic information of patients, the site and number of extrahepatic recurrence, the method of surgical intervention and the outcome after surgery were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: There were 4 men and 2 women with the mean age of 47.3 years. All of them were HBV carriers. Five patients had multiple pulmonary metastases removed by wedge resection. Two patients had bilateral lung metastases upon diagnosis of extrahepatic recurrence. The mean duration of follow-up after hepatic resection was 75.0 +/- 25.1 months (32 to 104 months). The mean survival after pulmonary resection was 47.2 +/- 34.3months (1 to 94 months). Four patients are still alive and free of the disease. One patient is alive but with the disease. One patient who refused further aggressive treatment after resection of lung metastasis died of the disease 40 months after lung resection, 77 months after hepatic resection.

Conclusions: Lung resection for the pulmonary metastasis of HCC can result in a favorable long-term survival when there is no other intrahepatic or extraphepatic recurrence of HCC. For patients with multiple lung metastases in different lobes or different lungs, aggressive surgical resection is recommended if complete resection can be achieved.