Is Finger Palpation at Operation Indispensable for Pulmonary Metastasectomy in Colorectal Cancer?

The ability to detect pulmonary metastases in patients with colorectal cancer is limited by preoperative evaluation with computed tomography and surgical techniques, including open thoracotomy with bimanual palpation. Pulmonary metastasectomy by open thoracotomy or thoracoscopy may be a suboptimal intervention to remove metastatic foci in the lungs.