Diagnosis and Management of Synchronous Multiple Primary Lung Cancers

During a 14-year period, 11 patients (2.0%) including eight men and three women were diagnosed as synchronous multiple primary lung cancers in 542 lung cancer patients who were treated surgically in our hospital. All of patients in men were heavy smokers (BI 600). Nine patients had unilateral lesions and two bilateral. Histologically, the pairing of squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma was most common. Seven patients had two separate tumors classified as T1 or T2 without mediastinal or hilar lymph node metastasis. Of nine patients with unilateral tumors, six had a lobectomy, two had a bilobectomy, one had a lobectomy combined with wedge excision, and the two patients with bilateral tumors received a staged bilateral lobectomy. In conclusion, four patients survived more than two years after the resection, and one patient more than five years. Of these, four had two separate tumors classified as T1N0M0.A good prognosis can be expected by adequate surgical treatment in stage I lung cancer patients with synchronous multiple primary lesions.