Implication of Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Metastasis of Breast Cancer.
PURPOSE: To determine pulmonary metastasis, video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed on the patients who had undergone breast cancer aurgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with a history of breast cancer underwentVATS, because of subsequent abnormal pulmonary shadows on chest computed tomograms (CT). All patients were suspected to have pulmonary metastasis from breast cancer. RESULTS: The VATS procedure showed 10(52%) patiens to have pulmonary metastasis, but, 9(48%) had primary lung cancers or benign lesions. In the patients of pulmonary metastasis, 7 had nodular lesions (5 had a single nodule and 2 had two nodules with a median diameter of 8.5 mm), and 3 patients had pleural dissemination. The follow-up period of the patients with pulmonary metastasis ranged from 3 to 28 months. Three patients died of brain metastasis and respiratory failure, 3 suffered recurrence and 4 were free from disease after VATS. CONCLUSION: VATS was useful for distinguishing small metastatic lesions from other diseases and a minimally invasive surgical approach in the follow-up of breast cancer patients suspected of pulmonary metastasis.
Yamada
S
Shimizu City Hospital, 1231 Miyagami, Shimizu 424, Japan.
Kosaka
A