Long-term survival of a patient with lung cancer with cervical lymph node metastasis

Abstract

The authors treated a 54-year-old male patient who had a long-term survival for 86 months. He had 6 cervical lymphadenectomy procedures and bilateral axillary dissection after left pneumonectomy for lung cancer. The first lymphadenectomy was performed because lymph node metastasis was recognized in the left supraclavicular fossa 14 months after the initial operation. Subsequently, 4 lymphadenectomies were carried out because of recurrence of cervical lymph node metastasis. Although radiation therapy was performed in the left cervical region because of the possibility of remaining tumor at the time of recurrence 42 months after the initial operation, recurrence was found in the cervical region. Lymph node metastases in the right cervical region and both axillae were resected as much as possible. It was considered that aggressive surgical treatment is effective for cervical lymph node metastasis because no other distant metastases were observed for 77 months following the initial operation, and the performance status of this patient was good, even though tumor remained in the left cervical region.