title: Pulmonary metastases from cervical cancer in Sri Lanka.
abstract: Cervical cancer is the second commonest malignancy in Sri Lankan women. The records of 2075 patients treated for cervical cancer from 1989 to 1993 were reviewed. Thirty-eight patients (1.8%) developed pulmonary lesions consistent with metastases. The median age at the time of presentation with metastases was 49.8 (range 24-73) years. Ten patients (26.3%) had pulmonary metastases at presentation. Twenty-eight (73.7%) developed metastases during follow-up. By the end of 2 years 27 (96.4%) of these patients had developed pulmonary metastases. The median time from diagnosis of cervical cancer to the detection of pulmonary metastases was 9 months. The commonest histological cell type was the large cell non-keratinising squamous carcinoma. Nine (23.7%) of these patients were asymptomatic. Two patients had lung metastases on initial staging chest X-ray while the other seven were detected during routine 3-monthly surveillance chest X-rays as follow up of primary treatment. This emphasises the importance of incorporating routine surveillance chest X-ray as part of the regular follow up. All patients with pulmonary metastases had abnormal shadows in chest X-rays. Nodular lesions were the commonest radiological findings. Local disease was controlled in 17 (55.3%) of the patients who developed metastases during follow-up, while 11 (28.9%) had active disease. There were 24 patients with spread to other sites at the time of diagnosis of pulmonary metastases. The discovery of effective chemotherapy agents is anticipated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology, Government Cancer Institute, Manharagama, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Gunasekera
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Fernando
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Abeykoon