Background: Management of solitary adrenal metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer is still debated. Although classically considered incurable, various reports with small numbers of patients have shown that surgical treatment might improve long-term survival. The aim of this study was to review our experience and to identify factors that could affect survival.
Methods: From January 1989 through April 2003, 23 patients underwent complete resection of an isolated adrenal metastasis after surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. There were 19 men and 4 women, with a mean age of 54 +/- 10 years. The diagnosis of adrenal metastasis was synchronous with the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer in 6 patients and metachronous in 17 patients. The median disease-free interval for patients with metachronous metastasis was 12.5 months (range, 4.5-60.1 months).
Results: The overall 5-year survival was 23.3%. Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated that a disease-free interval of greater than 6 months was an independent and significant predictor of increased survival in patients after adrenalectomy. All patients with a disease-free interval of less than 6 months died within 2 years of the operation. The 5-year survival was 38% after resection of an isolated adrenal metastasis that occurred more than 6 months after lung resection. Adjuvant therapy and pathologic staging of non-small cell lung cancer did not affect survival.
Conclusions: Surgical resection of metachronous isolated adrenal metastasis with a disease-free interval of greater than 6 months can provide long-term survival in patients previously undergoing complete resection of the primary non-small cell lung cancer.