Preoperative Evaluation of Patients with Clinically Resectable Bronchogenic Carcinoma

Abstract

Introduction The prognosis in a case of bronchogenic carcinoma is distressingly poor for long-term survival. The influence of the cellular type, the extent of local disease, and the presence, or absence, of lymphatic and blood-borne metastases at the time of diagnosis on the ultimate fate of the patient have been well documented. Of course, the biological behavior of the tumor and the host-tumor relationship are undoubtedly of great importance in determining the eventual outcome. Unfortunately, these factors cannot be assessed by any method of investigation at this time. When the disease is confined to the lung, and occasionally to the adjacent mediastinal nodes, the surgical excision of the involved lung and its lymphatic drainage area is accepted as the treatment of choice and is believed to give a better prognosis for long-term survival. However, if the disease has spread beyond the confines of the surgical excision, the removal of the