Shifts in flood generation processes exacerbate regional flood anomalies in Europe.

Anomalies in the frequency of river floods, i.e., flood-rich or -poor periods, cause biases in flood risk estimates and thus make climate adaptation measures less efficient. While observations have recently confirmed the presence of flood anomalies in Europe, their exact causes are not clear. Here we analyse streamflow and climate observations during 1960-2010 to show that shifts in flood generation processes contribute more to the occurrence of regional flood anomalies than changes in extreme rainfall. A shift from rain on dry soil to rain on wet soil events by 5% increased the frequency of flood-rich periods in the Atlantic region, and an opposite shift in the Mediterranean region increased the frequency of flood-poor periods, but will likely make singular extreme floods occur more often. Flood anomalies driven by changing flood generation processes in Europe may further intensify in a warming climate and should be considered in flood estimation and management.

Iridium thin-film coatings for the BabyIAXO hybrid X-ray optic.

Reflective coatings are an essential feature of X-ray telescopes. Their overall performance relies heavily on substrate compatibility and how well they conform to the optics assembly processes. We use X-ray reflectometry (XRR) to demonstrate the compatibility of shaping flat substrates coated with iridium, and show that specular and nonspecular reflectance before and after shaping is on par with traditional hot-slumped coated substrates. From 1.487 and 8.048keV measurements, we find that the substrates have rms roughness of 0.38nm and magnetron sputtered iridium deposits with rms surface roughness of 0.27-0.35nm. A hydrocarbon overlayer from atmospheric contamination is present with a thickness of 1.4-1.6nm and a density of 1.2-1.6g/cm3. Both the traditional hot slumped and the flat substrates undergoing post-coating shaping have a similar characteristic surface morphology and are equally well-suited for use with X-ray optics. Finally, we demonstrate by simulation the improved effective area achieved by using a low-Z overlayer, and illustrate the performance of a hybrid optic coated with optimized bilayers for a Primakoff axion spectrum emitted by the sun.

Characterizing hydrograph recessions from satellite-derived soil moisture.

Hydrograph recessions, usually described through a power-law function of river flows, are among the most widely utilized hydrological signatures. Whereas theories explaining the genesis of recession exponents have been recently developed, ongoing discussions on the physical meaning and suitable proxies of recession coefficients suggest their linkage to soil moisture states of whole river basins. This work investigates the possibility to explain hydrograph recession coefficients by means of satellite-derived soil moisture products such as the Soil Water Index of Copernicus Global Land Service. Analyses of basin-averaged Soil Water Index, computed for eleven river basins from the Central and Eastern United States with varied climates and landscapes, reveal the existence of an inverse relation between mean soil moisture and its variability in time, and provide a glance into the variability of river flows. A visible signature of satellite-derived soil moisture conditions on the values of the recession coefficient as well emerges when statistics of the Soil Water Index are paired with recession properties obtained by means of hydrograph recession analysis. In particular, drier river basins characterized by larger soil moisture variability tend to exhibit larger and more variable recession coefficients. These results suggest reliability of existing conjectures about the role of soil moisture for determining recession properties, and indicate that satellite-derived products can inform understanding of the intrinsic variability of the hydrologic response in river basins.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Pleural Fluid Cytology, Carcinoembryonic Antigen and C-Reactive Protein Together in Patients With Pulmonary Metastases and Malignant Pleural Effusion.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Pleural effusion (PE) has a heterogeneous aetiology, and differential diagnosis between benign and malignant disease may require invasive procedures in up to 60% of cases. The sensitivity of pleural cytology is limited, and several strategies have been tested to reduce the need of invasive diagnostic approaches. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of pleural fluid cytology, compared to, and combined with, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), C reactive protein (CRP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay of pleural fluid (PF) in patients with a history of cancer, exudative non-purulent PE, and suspicion of malignant PE on imaging studies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The medical records of 40 patients with pulmonary metastases and malignant PE, and 57 controls with benign exudative PE were reviewed. All the patients underwent pleural cytology and CEA, CRP, and LDH assay before VATS-guided biopsy. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity were 55.0% and 98.2% (cytology), 35.0% and 98.2% (CEA), 92.5% and 71.9% (CRP), 70.0% and 54.4% (LDH). The multivariate analysis excluded LDH, and the final AUC (cytology+CEA+CRP) was 0.894. CONCLUSION: In all patients with a history of cancer and PE of uncertain origin, the combination of PF cytology plus pleural CEA and CRP assay together should be suggested to recognize malignant plural effusion (MPE), minimising the use of unnecessary invasive investigations.

Diagnosis of Malignant Pleural Effusion Using CT Scan and Pleural-Fluid Cytology Together. A Preliminary Case-Control Study.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the usefulness of chest computed tomographic (CT) scan plus pleural fluid cytology (PFC) together in patients with malignant pleural effusion (PE), and to compare the results of these diagnostic tools in patients with malignant PE due to non-small-cell lung cancer and pulmonary metastases from other malignancies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The medical records of 185 patients with PE, who underwent chest CT, PFC and video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) thoracentesis followed by VATS-guided biopsy for diagnostic purpose, were reviewed. At the final diagnosis, 123 (66.5%) patients had malignant PE (cases), and 62 (33.5%) had benign PE (controls). RESULTS: Overall, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CT and PFC were 65.0% vs. 67.5% 98.4% vs. 98.4%, and 76.2% vs. 77.8%, respectively. The combination of CT plus PFC significantly improved sensitivity (86.2%, p=0.003) and accuracy (90.8%, p=0.02). CONCLUSION: CT and PFC used together may lead to approximately 100% specificity and >90% sensitivity in distinguishing between benign and malignant PE.

Causative classification of river flood events.

A wide variety of processes controls the time of occurrence, duration, extent, and severity of river floods. Classifying flood events by their causative processes may assist in enhancing the accuracy of local and regional flood frequency estimates and support the detection and interpretation of any changes in flood occurrence and magnitudes. This paper provides a critical review of existing causative classifications of instrumental and preinstrumental series of flood events, discusses their validity and applications, and identifies opportunities for moving toward more comprehensive approaches. So far no unified definition of causative mechanisms of flood events exists. Existing frameworks for classification of instrumental and preinstrumental series of flood events adopt different perspectives: hydroclimatic (large-scale circulation patterns and atmospheric state at the time of the event), hydrological (catchment scale precipitation patterns and antecedent catchment state), and hydrograph-based (indirectly considering generating mechanisms through their effects on hydrograph characteristics). All of these approaches intend to capture the flood generating mechanisms and are useful for characterizing the flood processes at various spatial and temporal scales. However, uncertainty analyses with respect to indicators, classification methods, and data to assess the robustness of the classification are rarely performed which limits the transferability across different geographic regions. It is argued that more rigorous testing is needed. There are opportunities for extending classification methods to include indicators of space-time dynamics of rainfall, antecedent wetness, and routing effects, which will make the classification schemes even more useful for understanding and estimating floods. This article is categorized under:Science of Water > Water ExtremesScience of Water > Hydrological ProcessesScience of Water > Methods.

Bone Mineral Density as a Potential Predictive Factor for Luminal-type Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women.

BACKGROUND/AIM: We performed a case-control study to evaluate whether bone mineral density (BMD) can be considered a potential predictive factor for luminal-type breast cancer (BC), that could be useful in constructing a predictive risk model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 297 postmenopausal women with luminal-type node-negative BC who underwent lumbar-spine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with BMD measurement before surgery, were analyzed and compared with those of 297 age-matched randomly selected healthy controls. The correlations between women's reproductive history, including the age at menarche and menopause, parity, oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use, the results of DXA, and BC risk were evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Overall, 168 (28.3%) women had osteoporosis and/or osteopenia (low BMD). Both bone alterations were protective factors for BC, especially when they were considered together (p=0.001). Only the interval between menarche and menopause (MMI), dichotomized at 37.5 years as an optimal cut-off, and the HRT use reached a statistical significance (p<0.01) as risk factors. The three parameters were independent because they remained significant in the stepwise logistic regression analysis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) obtained with the model was 0.694 (95%CI=0.694-0.731). CONCLUSION: This hypothesized predictive model is fairly accurate and could identify patients at increased risk of developing luminal-type BC in a population of postmenopausal women who performed DXA, simply based on their history.

Analysis of Factors Affecting Short-term Results in Elderly Patients Undergoing Elective Surgical Resection for Stage I-II Colon Cancer.

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of comorbidities and to compare the short-term results of elective surgical resection of stage I-II colon adenocarcinoma in elderly (≥65 years) versus younger patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two groups of sex-matched younger and older patients were compared: Group A: N=36, median age 58 (range=43-65) years; and group B: N=67, median age 73 (range=66-86) years. RESULTS: Overall, 71 out of 103 (68.9%) patients had one or more comorbidities. A greater number of older patients had an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score >2 (p=0.004) and were on multiple medications (polypharmacy) (p=0.016), but the distribution of the other parameters was similar (p≥0.05). Intra- and postoperative complications in group A vs. B occurred in 25.0% vs. 26.9%, and 47.2% vs. 64.2%, respectively (p≥0.05). CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with colon cancer scheduled to elective surgical resection should not be considered at increased risk of intra- or short-term postoperative complications with respect to younger patients. However, they require careful individual preoperative evaluation because they are usually polypharmacy users and have a higher ASA score.

Evaluation of predictive value of pleural CEA in patients with pleural effusions and histological findings: A prospective study and literature review.

OBJECTIVES: Pleural effusion recognizes heterogeneous etiology and pathogenesis and requires invasive diagnostic procedures. Usually, after pleural fluid analysis, 30-50% of patients with malignant pleural effusion exhibit negative pleural cytology, and the sensitivity of image-guided pleural needle-aspiration biopsy ranges between 60% and 70%. With the aim of differentiating between benign (BPE) and malignant (MPE) pleural effusions, several tumor markers have been assayed in the pleural fluid and the majority of studies focus on pleural carcinoembryonic antigen (p-CEA). The aims of this study were to evaluate (i) the diagnostic accuracy of p-CEA of patients with pleural effusions undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for diagnostic purpose, (ii) the relationship between p-CEA and serum CEA (s-CEA), and (iii) the usefulness of the p-CEA/s-CEA ratio in the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusions (MPE). DESIGN & METHODS: We prospectively enrolled in the study 134 consecutive patients with pleural effusions, scheduled for having VATS and biopsy. The final diagnosis, based on histopathology of the VATS-guided specimens, was available for all patients. p-CEA and s-CEA was assayed with a chemiluminescence immunoassay method (CLIA), applied on the Maglumi 2000 Plus automated platform (SNIBE, Shenzen, China). RESULTS: The sensitivity and accuracy of p-CEA was significantly higher than that of pleural cytology at the same specificity comparing BPE with MPE and BPE with non-small lung cancer. The sensitivity of p-CEA and PC together reached 100% (BPE vs. NSCLC) and 91.5% (BPE vs. MPE excluding mesothelioma), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The p-CEA measurement in patients with pleural effusion of uncertain etiology is a safe and cost-effective procedure, everywhere easily available, which may help clinicians in selecting patients for further evaluations. An elevated p-CEA level in a patient with pleural effusion and negative pleural cytology suggests the need of more invasive procedure (e.g. VATS-guided biopsies), whilst low p-CEA may support a follow-up.

Bone turnover markers in women with early stage breast cancer who developed bone metastases. A prospective study with multivariate logistic regression analysis of accuracy.

BACKGROUND: The skeleton is the most common site of metastasis for breast cancer and the periodic measurement of circulating bone turnover markers (BTMs) can be useful. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a panel of BTMs in the early detection of bone metastases (BMs). METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 297 postmenopausal women with early stage luminal-type invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Twenty-six patients who developed isolated BMs during follow-up and 24 randomly selected controls were studied. The two groups were matched according to age, final disease staging, and follow-up. All patients underwent periodic measurement of total and bone-specific (BSAP) alkaline phosphatase, CTX, ICTP, osteocalcin, NTX, PINP, and TRACP5b. RESULTS: Only BSAP, CTX, PINP, and TRACP5b were significantly (p<0.05) associated with the group, and the logistic regression analysis excluded CTX from the model. The AUC (ROC curve) for TRACP5b alone, which was the most accurate marker, and for the combination of BSAP+PINP+TRACP5b was 0.784 (95% CI: 0.651-0.916) and 0.889 (95% CI: 0.798-0.981), respectively. CONCLUSION: According to our results, the measurement of these three markers together should be performed in all postmenopausal patients with luminal-type IDC, when an early diagnosis of BMs is required.

Adjuvant Hormonal Therapy in Women with Early-stage Breast Cancer.

For decades, adjuvant hormonal therapy has become the standard treatment of patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Currently, the drugs available are GnRH agonists, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and aromatase inhibitors. The use of GnRH agonists represents a potentially reversible treatment that can restore ovarian function after chemotherapy. In premenopausal women, systemic therapy based on selective estrogen receptor modulators administration (e.g., tamoxifen) usually represents the standard adjuvant treatment. There are not sufficient data to recommend the routine addition of GnRH agonists to other endocrine therapies. In postmenopausal women, the disease-free survival was significantly prolonged in patients treated with aromatase inhibitor compared with those treated with tamoxifen, but the survival benefit was modest. Better results were obtained when the two drugs were administered sequentially. According to the ASCO guidelines, after 5 years of tamoxifen treatment, either tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors therapy should be suggested for an additional 5 years. Unfortunately, most adverse events are consistent with estrogen deprivation and are common to all therapies, and the cumulative toxicity causes discontinuation and nonadherence to therapy in up to 50% of patients. Switching tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor may reduce adverse event incidence. Molecular-targeted therapy is useful in patients with advanced, relapsed or hormonal therapy-resistant tumors, usually as second- or third-line treatment. These drugs are usually added to aromatase inhibitors; however, currently, they have not yet been used in patients with early breast cancer.

Factors Affecting Survival in Patients with Lung Metastases from Colorectal Cancer. A Short Meta-analysis.

Liver and pulmonary metastases (PMs) are relatively common in patients with colorectal cancer. The majority of metastases are suitable for surgical resection, and the effectiveness of metastasectomy is usually assessed based on overall survival (OS). Metastasectomy provides a mean 5-year OS rate of approximately 50%, but the results are better in patients with liver metastases compared to those with PMs. Unfortunately, the presence of bilateral or multiple PMs represents a relative contraindication to surgical metastasectomy. Unresectable PMs can be safely treated with percutaneous radiofrequency ablation or radiotherapy, but the reported results vary widely. Several clinical prognostic factors affecting OS after metastasectomy have been reported, such as number of PMs, hilar or mediastinal lymph node involvement, disease-free interval, age and gender, resection margins, size of the metastases, neoadjuvant chemotherapy administration, and histological type of the primary cancer. The accurate evaluation of all clinical prognostic factors, circulating and immunohistochemical markers, and the study of gene mutational status will lead to a more accurate selection of patients scheduled to metastasectomy, with the aim of improving outcome.

Serum Tumor Markers in Stage I-II Breast Cancer.

The prognosis of breast cancer is strongly influenced by the stage of the disease; therefore, it is essential that breast cancer lesions be diagnosed at the earliest stages. There is an urgent need to identify different biomarkers with a high accuracy for the early detection of this cancer to facilitate clinical management of the disease. A wide number of substances named serum tumor markers can be detected in the serum of patients with breast cancer, including tumor-associated proteins, cytokines, stimulating or inhibiting factors, autoantibodies to antigen tumor-associated substances and miRNAs. Despite ASCO and NACB recommendations, the routine use of breast cancer tumor markers by a significant proportion of oncologists is common, particularly after primary treatment of early tumors. The new promising circulating markers are HER2/neu, Trx 1, CSF1, autoantibodies against these tumor-associated antigens, and miRNAs, which are non-coding RNA molecules that regulate the translation of mRNA and control a number of biological processes, including oncogenic cells proliferation. The expression of single miRNA results in a miRNA signature, and is considered a potential biomarker for early breast cancer. However, additional studies are needed to identify its real usefulness.

Adjuvant Treatment of Early Breast Cancer in the Elderly.

Breast cancer is common in the elderly, as more than 50% of these tumors are diagnosed in patients aged 65 years or older. Elderly women may also delay reporting or underreport to their physician suspicious symptoms and lesions, so that breast cancer is more likely to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage, with putatively inferior outcomes. Adjuvant hormonal therapy has clear benefits for all women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer, despite the fact that it is still under-prescribed in elderly women, but the benefits of tamoxifen are more evident than that observed in younger patients. Aromatase inhibitors significantly prolong disease-free survival, reducing the risk of metastases and contralateral cancer compared with tamoxifen, and these benefits are greater in women aged ≥65 years. However, in case of a history of pathological fractures, arthritis or chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes, tamoxifen still represents the preferred adjuvant option. In patients with a high risk of recurrence with hormonal therapy alone, the cardiac toxicity of nonanthracycline regimens should be taken into account. Trastuzumab-based therapy should be offered to most patients with HER2-overexpressing tumors. Older patients have an increased risk of disease recurrence and cancer-related mortality, because they are usually undertreated due to their age and longevity. Thus, a multidisciplinary geriatric approach is required, but the optimal management of these patients is still not well defined.

Sentinel Node Biopsy in Early Breast Cancer.

The approach to the axilla is an evolving paradigm, and recognition of the complexity of breast cancer (BC) biology is changing treatment options. The sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) technique is based on the excision and histological examination of the axillary lymph nodes(s), which is assumed to be the first one draining from the primary tumor. SLNB can accurately stage the axilla, and several trials have shown that there are no significant differences in local recurrence and overall survival between patients treated with or without axillary node dissection (ALND) after a negative SLNB. Surgical morbidity was significantly reduced in terms of rates of lymphedema and neuropathy, with reduced hospital stay and better quality of life after the SLNB procedure. ALND can safely be omitted in patients with ≥2 positive nodes who received conservative surgery and radiotherapy, while ALND is still recommended in clinically N1 BCs, in case of ≥3 positive nodes, and when the number of positive nodes would be crucial for the choice of chemotherapy. Micrometastatic disease can be safely managed with SLNB alone, and additional identification of micrometastases with immunohistochemistry does not affect disease-free survival or overall survival. An appropriate management of the axilla is crucial for the outcome of patients with early BC, and SLNB introduction into the clinical practice dramatically changed the surgical treatment, reducing morbidity without decreasing survival. A tailored approach should be suggested in each patient with BC, considering the biology of the tumor rather than nodal involvement.

Advances in the Treatment of Triple-negative Early Breast Cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer represents approximately 10-20% of all breast cancers and is associated with worse prognosis than other subtypes, with a higher risk of recurrence and death than other breast cancer types. This cancer is considered a heterogeneous disease comprising a spectrum of cancers with distinct activated biological pathways, various levels of chemosensitivity and different propensity for metastasis. Currently, chemotherapy represents the mainstay of medical treatment of these patients, because of the absence of well-defined molecular target agent, and we cannot use investigational classifications to determine appropriate systemic therapy outside of clinical trials. The specific adjuvant chemotherapy that may be most effective is still being determined but there is general consensus that regimens containing anthracyclines and taxanes are the standard approach for patient after surgery. Unfortunately, although some patients respond to treatment, other women have a high degree of intrinsic resistance to the same therapy. Moreover, in some studies, the pathological complete response was significantly higher in women treated with platinum-based regimen with respect to those treated with other chemotherapy regimen. The systematic evaluation of the predictive value of genomic alterations is critically important for a better comprehension of this entity and to develop new effective therapeutic strategies. In the future, a personalized therapeutic approach based on biology-oriented characteristics and molecular profiling may be effective for the patients.

Proteomics as a Guide for Personalized Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Early Breast Cancer.

Proteomics allows for better understanding of the function and regulation of cancer cells mediated by intra- and extracellular signaling networks. Integrating such information with clinicopathological characteristics of the tumor may lead to either detection of disease biomarkers useful to differentiate high-from low-risk patients, or to identification of new drug targets. Adjuvant chemotherapy is currently a personalized treatment strategy, especially for breast cancer (BC) patients, and the risk assessment of each patient influences its use because the benefit strictly correlates with the level of risk. Luminal A BCs are endocrine therapy (ET)-sensitive but exhibit low sensitivity to chemotherapy, while luminal B cancers, according to the Ki-67 proliferation rate may require for chemotherapy in addition to ET, and HER2-positive tumors derive benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy containing an anthracycline, a taxane and trastuzumab for one year. Triple-negative BCs have a high degree of genomic instability exhibiting a more aggressive clinical course with respect to other types of BC, and the anthracycline-taxane regimen constitutes the standard approach. Studies considering the use of targeted approaches (drugs), including poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, or EFGR and HER2 blockers, are still under evaluation. In the genomic era, promising new targeted-therapies are worthy of further investigation, and mTOR inhibitors have been used for patients with high-risk ER-positive and HER2-negative tumors. In the near future, genetic and molecular profiling of BC will help to better-categorize patients, determine the choice of chemotherapy in low-risk, or intensify the treatment in high-risk cancer patients, eventually revealing new targeted agents.

Current medical treatment of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Approximately 80% of breast cancers (BC) are estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and thus endocrine therapy (ET) should be considered complementary to surgery in the majority of patients. The advantages of oophorectomy, adrenalectomy and hypophysectomy in women with advanced BC have been demonstrated many years ago, and currently ET consist of (1) ovarian function suppression (OFS), usually obtained using gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRHa); (2) selective estrogen receptor modulators or down-regulators (SERMs or SERDs); and (3) aromatase inhibitors (AIs), or a combination of two or more drugs. For patients aged less than 50 years and ER+ BC, there is no conclusive evidence that the combination of OFS and SERMs (i.e., tamoxifen) or chemotherapy is superior to OFS alone. Tamoxifen users exhibit a reduced risk of BC, both invasive and in situ, especially during the first 5 years of therapy, and extending the treatment to 10 years further reduced the risk of recurrences. SERDs (i.e., fulvestrant) are especially useful in the neoadjuvant treatment of advanced BC, alone or in combination with either cytotoxic agents or AIs. There are two types of AIs: type I are permanent steroidal inhibitors of aromatase, while type II are reversible nonsteroidal inhibitors. Several studies demonstrated the superiority of the third-generation AIs (i.e., anastrozole and letrozole) compared with tamoxifen, and adjuvant therapy with AIs reduces the recurrence risk especially in patients with advanced BC. Unfortunately, some cancers are or became ET-resistant, and thus other drugs have been suggested in combination with SERMs or AIs, including cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (palbociclib) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, such as everolimus. Further studies are required to confirm their real usefulness.

Short-term Survival of Patients with Lung Metastases from Colorectal and Non-colorectal Cancer Who Underwent Pulmonary Metastasectomy.

The lung is a common site of metastases, whose prevalence varies as a function of the primary tumor site, which is usually colorectal cancer (CRC), breast carcinoma, or genitourinary cancers, such as ovary, urinary bladder and renal cell carcinomas. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether the site of primitive tumor affects overall survival (OS) of patients with lung metastases (LMs) who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy. The data of 41 patients with surgically treated CRC (Group A=22 patients) and non-colorectal carcinomas (Group B=19 patients), who developed matachronous LMs and underwent pulmonary metastasectomy with curative intent, were analyzed. The origin of non-colorectal LMs was genitourinary cancer in nine and breast cancer in 10 patients. Overall, there were 22 men and 19 women, with a median age of 65 years (range=31-80); 18 patients had a solitary metastatic tumor, while 23 had two or more LMs. Twenty-nine patients underwent wedge resection, through thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracic surgery, while 12 underwent pulmonary lobectomy. Seventy-five LMs were resected with a 5-tear OS of 48.8%. No difference was found between elderly (≥65 year-old) and younger patients (p=0.26), and between those with solitary or multiple LMs (p=0.62) in terms of survival rate. The female patients had a worse OS (31.6% vs. 63.6%; odds ratio (OR)=3.79, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.03-13.91, p=0.003) compared to males, independent of the origin of primary cancer. There was no difference in the cumulative survival rates (OR=1.65, 95%CI=0.48-5.69, p=0.42) between Groups and the log-rank test (p=0.75) was not significant. In conclusion, the main pathological characteristics of metastatic lesions and advanced age do not appear to be associated with a poor prognosis in patients with LMs, while the female gender is a negative prognostic factor. Thus, the primary tumor site should not be considered a major criterion in selecting patients for pulmonary metastasectomy.