Clinicopathological characteristics associated with intrapulmonary metastasis rather than single primary lung cancer at first diagnosis: a study based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database using Bayesian networks and structural equation modeling

In this large registry-based study, intrapulmonary metastatic disease at first lung cancer diagnosis was more strongly associated with tumor differentiation, laterality, and anatomical distribution than with measured sociodemographic factors. These observational associations may help characterise patients who present with more extensive intrapulmonary disease.