Surgical and non-surgical management of repeat pulmonary metastasis from sarcoma following first pulmonary metastasectomy.

PURPOSE: Although repeat pulmonary metastasectomy for sarcoma is not uncommon and associated with a favorable survival in select patients, there is a paucity of data on the demographics and tumor characteristics of patients with repeat pulmonary metastasis following complete resection of pulmonary metastases from osteogenic or soft tissue sarcoma. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients with isolated repeat pulmonary metastasis after complete resection of pulmonary metastases from sarcoma at Kyoto University Hospital between January 1990 and December 2014. Isolated pulmonary metastasis was defined as limited to presumable pulmonary metastasis according to the follow-up radiologic workup. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients were identified to have repeat pulmonary metastasis. Thirty patients underwent attempted repeat pulmonary metastasectomy (including 21 undergoing documented complete resection and 7 undergoing documented incomplete or aborted resections). Five patients received non-surgical management. The median follow-up period was 16 months (range 1-234) from repeat pulmonary metastasis. The five-year overall survival of the whole patient cohort and those undergoing repeat pulmonary metastasectomy were 37.6 and 41.1 %, respectively, from repeat pulmonary metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of patients with repeat pulmonary metastasis from sarcoma undergo repeat metastasectomy, which is associated with favorable survival outcomes. However, a greater accumulation of data on non-surgically managed patients is needed as such information is currently limited available.