Staging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Mediastinoscopy or Bronchoscopic Needle Aspiration? Pro: Mediastinoscopy

摘要

Lung cancer remains a major health problem, affecting approximately 171,600 new patients in 1999. Although lung cancer makes up only 14% of all cancers, it accounts for 28% of all cancer deaths and now exceeds breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women.Although the overall mortality resulting from lung cancer remains high, this is in part the result of the late stage of disease at the time of presentation. Treatment and prognosis are dependent on the accurate staging of disease. In 1997, Mountain and Mountain and Dresler revised the staging system for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to improve the classification system.