To compare the concordance of pre- and postoperative pathological diagnosis and stages of the cases with surgically treated primary lung carcinoma.

Thirty-two cases with surgically treated primary lung carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed for their pre- and postoperative pathological diagnoses and stages. In the preoperative assessment, lymph nodes of shortest transverse axis greater than 1 cm on thoracic computed tomography (TCT) were accepted as pathologic.

By preoperative staging 46.9% of the patients were diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, while 21.9% were non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) whose subgroups were not defined. Only one case was diagnosed as adenocarcinoma. After surgical treatment, pathological examination of the specimens revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 40.6% of the cases, and with a marked increase, adenocarcinoma in 37.5%. Nineteen (59.4%) of the patients were found to have the same pre- and postoperative clinical and pathologic stage. The sensitivity and specifity of TCT for mediastinal nodes were 75% and 76.9%, respectively.

The study demonstrated that the incidence of adenocarcinoma would increase if the subgroups of NSCLC were better determined, and also indicated the necessity of invasive staging in guidance of TCT for more accurate staging.

Keywords :