Effect of postoperative intrapleural instillations of interleukin-2 in patients with malignant pleurisy due to lung cancer.

Thirteen patients with resectable lung cancer and concomitant malignant pleurisy which could not be detected by preoperative chest roentgenograms were treated with surgical resection of the primary lesions and postoperative intrapleural instillations of interleukin-2 (IL-2). All of the patients demonstrated disappearance of cancer cells from pleural effusion after the IL-2 therapy. Four of the 13 patients survived over 5 years and 2 of them are in disease free state at this moment (January 31, 1993). The first recurrent sites were distant organs in 8 of 11 patients with recurrence and lymph nodes in 3 of them. No pleural recurrence was observed. These results indicate that the postoperative intrapleural IL-2 therapy may be one of hopeful adjuvant therapies in patients with resectable lung cancer and concomitant malignant pleurisy, although distant metastasis and lymph node recurrence could not be suppressed completely.