MedDRA preferred term

Metastases to lung: adverse event reports recording this term

11,379 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0.1% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

11,379
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 783
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 830 in the 12 months before; 98.9%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 31.5%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Metastases to lung" is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 11,379 adverse event reports received by FDA, 0.1% of the database, from January 2004 to June 2026. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

783 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 830 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 98.9% are marked serious, 31.5% include death among the outcomes and 30.6% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Letrozole, Capecitabine and Paclitaxel. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Letrozole	Aromatase inhibitor	574	2.1%
Capecitabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	517	1%
Paclitaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	511	0.7%
Fulvestrant	Estrogen receptor antagonist	491	4.2%
Kisqali	Kinase inhibitor	480	2%
Docetaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	456	0.8%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	426	0.4%
Fluorouracil	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	380	0.6%
Avastin	Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor	365	0.6%
Afinitor	Kinase inhibitor	359	1.2%
Bevacizumab	Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor	356	0.7%
Oxaliplatin	Platinum-based drug	333	0.5%
Nexavar	Kinase inhibitor	309	2%
Tamoxifen	—	307	3.9%
Cisplatin	Platinum-based drug	305	0.5%
Cyclophosphamide	Alkylating drug	303	0.2%
Zometa	—	299	1.3%
Herceptin	HER2/neu receptor antagonist	296	1%
Anastrozole	Aromatase inhibitor	287	2.8%
Trastuzumab	HER2/neu receptor antagonist	286	1%
Xeloda	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	281	0.9%
Gemcitabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	273	0.8%
Votrient	Kinase inhibitor	270	1.2%
Stivarga	Kinase inhibitor	269	2.9%
Everolimus	Kinase inhibitor	258	1.9%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.1% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Kinase inhibitor	4,301	0.5%	0.2%
Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	1,533	0.5%	0%
Aromatase inhibitor	1,344	1.9%	2.2%
Platinum-based drug	1,064	0.5%	0.5%
Microtubule inhibitor	1,017	0.7%	0.5%
HER2/neu receptor antagonist	807	0.9%	0.8%
Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor	738	0.4%	0%
Estrogen receptor antagonist	648	2.3%	1.6%
Alkylating drug	580	0.2%	0.1%
Programmed death Receptor-1 blocking antibody	471	0.2%	0.2%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20.1%6

2 to 110.6%66

12 to 170.6%69

18 to 449.2%1,051

45 to 6429.4%3,351

65 to 7418.8%2,136

75 and over10.2%1,161

Age not given31.1%3,539

Patient sex

Female52%5,913

Male39.4%4,486

Not given8.6%980

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 26.3% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Metastases to lung"

What does "Metastases to lung" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record metastases to lung?

11,379 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 783 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Letrozole (574), Capecitabine (517), Paclitaxel (511), Fulvestrant (491) and Kisqali (480). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.