Osteogenic and brain metastases after non-small cell lung cancer resection

A significant number of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients develop osteogenic metastases (OMs) and/or brain metastases (BMs) after surgery, however, routine chest computed tomography (CT) sometimes fails to diagnose these recurrences. We investigated the incidence of BMs and OMs after pulmonary resection and aimed to identify candidates who can benefit from brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in addition to CT. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 1099 NSCLC patients who underwent pulmonary resection between 2002 and 2013. Clinicopathological factors associated with OM and/or BM were investigated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Postoperative recurrence occurred in 344 patients (32.6%). OMs were diagnosed in 56 patients (5.6%) with 93% within 3 years. BMs were identified in 72 patients (6.6%) with 91.1% within 3 years. Multivariate analysis revealed that poorly differentiated tumor and the presence of pathological nodal metastases were significantly associated with postoperative BM (p = 0.037