title: The clinical course of lung metastases from breast cancer.
abstract: The clinical course of 50 breast cancer patients whose first metastases were found in the lungs was investigated. 18 months after the start of primary treatment 50% of the patients had developed pulmonary metastases (range: 0-81 months). In 23% of patients a solitary, and in 68% more than one, lung metastases were detected. After a median time of 4 months, in 56% of patients the disease had spread to further organs with bone (25%) and liver (17%) being the most frequent sites. First line management of lung metastases employed surgery, endocrine treatment, chemotherapy or a combination of these modalities. In 24% of patients a complete response was achieved, and in 11% a partial response, with an overall response rate of 35%. Median survival from detection of lung metastases was 13 months (range 4-123+). Patients with only a solitary lung metastasis survived for a median of 11.5 months as compared to 10.5 months for patients with more than one pulmonary metastases. Patients with a disease-free interval of more than 18 months survived significantly longer than patients with a disease-free survival of 18 months or less.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinik für Chemotherapie, Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien.
authors.forename: O K
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Schlappack
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baur
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dittrich
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001317:Austria; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged