Abstract
Background: Surgical resection is an important interdisciplinary treatment for pulmonary metastases
of metastatic malignant melanoma. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical
course, outcome and prognostic factors in a subset of patients recently treated by
metastasectomy. Material and Methods: Between 1995 and 2007, 30 patients (19 men, 11 women) with pulmonary metastases from
malignant melanoma underwent pulmonary resection. Exclusion of primary tumor recurrence
and other extrapulmonary metastases was mandatory for inclusion in the study. The
median follow-up was 93.7 months. These patients' records were subsequently reviewed.
Results: Cumulative 5-year survival rate after pulmonary resection was 35.1 % with a median
survival of 18.3 months. Complete pulmonary resection was achieved in 27 patients
who had a median survival of 20.5 months compared to 13.0 months after incomplete
resection; however, completeness of resection was not a statistically prognostic factor
for survival. Multivariate analysis identified gender as the only significant prognostic
parameter for overall survival in the group of patients after complete resection of
pulmonary metastases, with 9.4 months versus 25.0 months for the female and male group,
respectively (p = 0.022). Conclusions: We conclude that pulmonary metastasectomy for metastases of malignant melanoma is
a safe treatment modality which may actually be of benefit in selected patients with
stage IV malignant melanoma. When pulmonary metastases of malignant melanoma are present,
every attempt should be made to completely resect all clinically detected metastases.
Key words
metastases/metastasectomy - outcomes (includes mortality - morbidity) - malignant
melanoma
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Joachim Pfannschmidt, MD
Department of Thoracic Surgery
Thoraxklinik am Universitätsklinikum
Amalienstraße 5
69126 Heidelberg
Germany
Phone: +49 6 22 13 96 11 01
Fax: +49 6 22 13 96 11 02
Email: joachim.pfannschmidt@thoraxklinik-heidelberg.de
