Trial reportColorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland2020
Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer: updated analysis of 93 randomized patients - control survival is much better than previously assumed.
Trial report in Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01106261 (A Randomised Trial of Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer), which is not on this map. Cited by 71 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Randomised Trial of Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Multimodal treatment improves survival in patients with lung metastases from colorectal cancer: A network meta-analysis.Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland · 2025Pooled it
- Colon cancer: the 2023 Korean clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.Annals of coloproctology · 2024Guideline
- A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Patient Survival and Disease Recurrence Following Percutaneous Ablation of Pulmonary Metastasis.Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2022Pooled it
- Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer (PulMiCC) randomized controlled trial: a systematic review of published responses.European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery · 2022Pooled it
- Outcomes of Thoracic Surgical Oncology Group 103: Multimodality management in risk-stratified patients with lung-limited metastatic colorectal cancer.JTCVS open · 2026Trial
- Trial
- The full cohort of 512 patients and the nested controlled trial in 93 patients in the Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer (PulMiCC) study raise doubts about the effective size at present claimed.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2022Trial
- Pulmonary metastasectomy in colorectal cancer: health utility scores by EQ-5D-3L in a randomized controlled trial show no benefit from lung metastasectomy.Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland · 2021Trial
- Robotic Bronchoscopic Lung Ablation: Can Evidence Generation Keep Pace with Technological Innovation?Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2026Article
- The Jury Remains Out: The Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer (PulMiCC) Study Highlights the Need for Stringent Trials Investigating the Efficacy of Surgical Intervention.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Giant Chest Wall Metastasis of Rectal Adenocarcinoma with Multistructural Involvement.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Evolving Resection Strategies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers: Translating Trial Evidence to Real-World Practice.Cancers · 2025Article
- Comment on Pang et al. Ablative Techniques for Lung Metastases: Patient Selection and Outcomes Following Treatment with Stereotactic Radiotherapy or Radiofrequency Ablation.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Article
- Reply to Macbeth, F.; Treasure, T. Comment on "Pang et al. Ablative Techniques for Lung Metastases: Patient Selection and Outcomes Following Treatment with Stereotactic Radiotherapy or Radiofrequency Ablation.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Article
- Pulmonary Metastasectomy for Colorectal Cancer: Evidence and Outcomes-A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- The Ugly: Metastatic Colon Cancer-Surgical Options.Clinics in colon and rectal surgery · 2025Review
- Preclinical experience with cisplatin, gemcitabine, and doxorubicin in pulmonary suffusion.JTCVS open · 2025Article
- Long-term survival and undetectable circulating tumor DNA following comprehensive involved site radiotherapy for oligometastases.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Decoding colorectal cancer lung metastasis: a global research odyssey.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimLung metastases from colorectal cancer are resected in selected patients in the belief that this confers a significant survival advantage. It is generally assumed that the 5-year survival of these patients would be near zero without metastasectomy. We tested the clinical effectiveness of this practice in Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer (PulMiCC), a randomized, controlled noninferiority trial.
methodMultidisciplinary teams in 14 hospitals recruited patients with resectable lung metastases into a two-arm trial. Randomization was remote and stratified according to site, with minimization for age, sex, primary cancer stage, interval since primary resection, prior liver involvement, number of metastases and carcinoembryonic antigen level. The trial management group was blind to patient allocation until after intention-to-treat analysis.
resultsFrom 2010 to 2016, 93 participants were randomized. These patients were 35-86 years of age and had between one and six lung metastases at a median of 2.7 years after colorectal cancer resection; 29% had prior liver metastasectomy. The patient groups were well matched and the characteristics of these groups were similar to those of observational studies. The median survival after metastasectomy was 3.5 (95% CI: 3.1-6.6) years compared with 3.8 (95% CI: 3.1-4.6) years for controls. The estimated unadjusted hazard ratio for death within 5 years, comparing the metastasectomy group with the control group, was 0.93 (95% CI: 0.56-1.56). Use of chemotherapy or local ablation was infrequent and similar in each group.
conclusionPatients in the control group (who did not undergo lung metastasectomy) have better survival than is assumed. Survival in the metastasectomy group is comparable with the many single-arm follow-up studies. The groups were well matched with features similar to those reported in case series.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.