Implication of video assisted thoracoscopic surgery in the diagnosis of pulmonary metastasis of breast cancer

Purpose  To determine pulmonary metastasis, video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed on the patients who had undergone breast cancer surgery. Patients and Methods p Nineteen patients with a history of breast cancer underwent VATS, because of subsequent abnormal pulmonary shadows on chest computed tomograms (CT). All patients were suspected to have pulmonary metastasis from breast cancer.   Results  The VATS procedure showed 10 (52%) patients to have pulmonary metastasis, but, 9 (48%) had primary lung cancers or benign lesions. In the patients of pulmonary metastasis, 7 had nodular lesions (5 had a single nodule and 2 had two nodules with a median diameter of 8.5 mm), and 3 patients had pleural dissemination. The follow-up period of the patients with pulmonary metastasis ranged from 3 to 28 months. Three patients died of brain metastasis and respiratory failure, 3 suffered recurrence and 4 were free from disease after VATS. Conclusion  VATS was useful for distinguishing small metastatic lesions from other diseases and a minimally invasive surgical approach in the follow-up of breast cancer patients suspected of pulmonary metastasis.