Determination of a low risk group for having metastatic nodules not detected by computed tomography scan in lung metastases surgery.

INTRODUCTION In recent years, there has been debate regarding the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography (CT) in the identification of lung metastases and the need for lung palpation to determine the number of metastatic nodules. The aim of this study was to determine in which patients the CT scan was more effective in detecting all metastases. METHODS We studied all patients who underwent curative thoracotomy for pulmonary metastasis between 1998 and 2012. All cases were reviewed by two expert pulmonary radiologists before surgery. Statistical analyses were performed using Systat version 13. RESULTS The study included 183 patients (63.6% male) with a mean age of 61.7 years who underwent 217 interventions. The CT scan was correct in 185 cases (85.3%). Discrepancies observed: 26 patients (11.9%) with more metastases resected than observed and 6 cases (2.8%) with fewer metastases. In patients with one or two metastases of colorectal origin or a single metastasis of any other origin, the probability of finding extra nodules was 9.5%. In the remaining patients, the probability was 27.8%, with statistically significant differences (P=.001). The mean age of the patients in whom no unobserved nodules were detected was 62.9 years compared to 56.5 years on average in patients who were free from any metastases (P=.001). CONCLUSIONS Patients older than 60 years, with one or two metastases of colorectal origin or a single metastasis from any other origin were considered to be the group with low probability of having more metastases resected than observed.