Curable lung cancer

PREVIEW

Every known or suspected case of lung cancer should be managed with curative intent. Because surgery offers the best chance for cure, accurate staging is essential. In this article, Dr Johnston describes the use of TNM staging in reverse and explains the therapeutic goals of surgery. A quality lung cancer operation requires open thoracotomy with en bloc resection of the tumor and involved adjacent structures and thorough lymph node sampling or resection. Uninvolved lung tissue may be preserved with a variety of surgical techniques that do not compromise the curative intent of the procedure. PGM