Resection of pulmonary metastases is often performed after
surgical treatment of primary head and neck cancers, as the
lungs are the most common site of their distant dissemination.
1 The indications and clinical contributions of surgery
for metastatic colon and breast cancers have been widely
studied. In contrast, only a few reports have described the
clinical outcomes and benefits of the resection of pulmonary
metastases of head or neck cancers. The number of patients
undergoing resection of pulmonary metastases of head or
neck cancers is relatively small compared with colon and
breast cancers. At present, no consensus has been reached
with respect to the adverse postoperative prognosis conferred,
in particular, by clinical and pathological factors, after
the resection of lung metastases of head or neck cancers. The
purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes
after pulmonary metastasectomy of head and neck cancers,
and to identify predictors of adverse clinical outcome among
patients treated at our institution