Radiologic Staging of Lung Cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the most common fatal malignancy in humans and may be broadly classified as either small cell or non-small cell types. In this chapter we discuss the staging of non-small cell lung cancer. Staging at the time of diagnosis is important in assessing prognosis because costly curative surgery is based on this assessment. We review the usefulness of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear medicine studies and look briefly at minimally invasive surgery (including imaging guided biopsy procedures and surgical procedures) in staging this common malignancy. CT remains the workhorse of radiologic staging, with the other modalities helpful in the final assessment. In many situations, these modalities are necessary for accurate definition of the stage at presentation. Positron emission tomography (PET) with [¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) uses tumor physiology to localize metastatic disease and has the potential to be very useful in the future.

Key Words:

Staging - lung cancer