Management of pulmonary metastases: a narrative review on the oncologist’s perspective

Abstract

Background and Objective: In a large proportion of patients affected by solid tumors, metastatic disease is identified at diagnosis; alternatively, cancer patients might develop metastases during their follow up after treatment of the primary tumor. Among distant metastases, pulmonary lesions are particularly relevant, as they are frequent in many solid malignancies. While the management of disseminated tumors relies mainly on systemic treatments with palliative intent, the interest in local treatments of single or limited pulmonary metastases (oligometastatic disease) has developed throughout years, either with curative intent or with the intent of prolonging survival. In spite of this growing interest, published scientific data on the oligometastatic setting are relatively limited, and randomized trials are particularly scarce; hence, the available evidence mostly relies on retrospective patient series. The aim of this review is to summarize the currently available data on the management of pulmonary metastases, with specific reference to oligometastases from the oncologist’s point of view.