ObjectiveTo evaluate the role of surgical resection on synchronous multiple pulmonary nodules identified difficultly in clinics.MethodsThe clinical data of 97 patients with synchronous multiple pulmonary nodules who received surgical resection between 2012 and 2019 in Hunan Cancer Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. There were 72 males and 25 females, aged 58.1±9.0 years. Among these patients, there were 78 patients with ipsilateral and 19 patients with bilateral pulmonary nodules. Clinicopathological parameters between main nodules and secondary nodules were evaluated. Perioperative morbidity was also assessed.ResultsThe operation was successfully completed on all patients for the ipsilateral and bilateral lesions. Totally, 71.1% of mian lesions was mostly removed by lobectomy, and the completion rate of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was 69.1% (67/97); 80.4% of secondary lesions were mostly removed by wedge resection, and the completion rate of VATS was 71.1% (69/97). The incidence of grade 3 or higher complications after unilateral or bilateral surgery was 12.8% and 5.3%, respectively. Postoperative pathology confirmed that the main lesions were malignant in 65 patients (67.0%), mainly adenocarcinoma (63.1%), of which 43.1% were in the stage Ⅰ; 32 patients were benign, mainly tuberculoma (56.3%). There were 29 patients of malignant secondary lesions, 67 benign, and 1 both benign and malignant; the pathological agreement rate of primary and secondary lesions was 54.6% (lung cancer metastases in the lung and all the benign). When the primary lesion was malignant with its diameters of <3 cm, 3-<5 cm, 5-7 cm, >7 cm, the metastatic rate of secondary lesions was 42.5%, 15.8%, 20.0%, 0, respectively. When the primary lesion was malignant with lymph node metastasis, the probability of the secondary lesion being a metastatic tumor was higher than that without lymph node metastasis (46.7% vs. 30.0%, P>0.05). When the primary lesion was malignant and the primary and secondary lesions were located in the same lobe, the secondary lesions were more likely to metastasize (54.5%), while when they were located on different lobes on the same side or different sides, the secondary lesions were more likely to be benign (58.1%, 72.7%), and the possibility of metastasis was small ( 32.6%, 9.1%). When the primary lesion was benign and clinical differential diagnosis was difficult, the secondary lesion was benign.ConclusionFor synchronous multiple pulmonary nodules, the diameter of the primary lesion is large, the metastatic rate of secondary lesions tends to decrease. In ipsilateral synchronous multiple pulmonary nodules, especially with node metastasis, the risk of metastatic nodule increases. Bilateral surgical resection does not significantly increase the perioperative morbidity.