title: Surgical treatment and outcome of pulmonary hamartoma: a retrospective study of 20-year experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Controversy still exists in the indication and timing of surgical treatment of pulmonary hamartoma (PH). The objective of this study is to summarize the experience and the outcome of the surgical treatment for pulmonary hamartomas, and to assess the effectiveness and necessity of surgical therapy administered in patients with pulmonary hamartoma as well as clinical and pathological features and long-term follow-up results.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective report has reviewed a 20-years clinical history of surgical treatment for 39 patients with PH from 1985 to 2006. These thirty-nine patients underwent 40 operations as follows: wedge resection (23), enucleation (10), segmentectomy (3), lobectomy (3), and pneumonectomy (1).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PH occurred most frequently (78.1%) in the patients aged 40 to 60 years and the sex ratio (male/female) was 2.25/1 in our series. No postoperative death was encountered. One patient with pleural effusion was cured after thoracentesis. All of these 39 patients were proved with pathologic diagnosis of PH and the popcorn calcification was found in 6 cases before operation. In 38 cases having the mean follow-up of 7.3 years, a patient was operated thrice for regional recurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fast frozen section in operation is critical for acquire accurate pathological diagnosis. Due to potential trend of recurrence or malignancy, patients with hamartoma should be submitted to a complete evaluation and a regular follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042, PR China. gyguowei@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yun-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yao-Guang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ru-Wen
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome