VALUE OF PREOPERATIVE COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY IN LUNG CANCER

In 22 cases who were resected due to nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), value of chest computerized tomography (CT)'in mediastinal lymph node evaluation was investigated by comparing pathological (pTNM) and clinical (cTNM) disease stages. In 6 to 12 patients pre and postoperative stages were the same. In 3 of them (25%) T and N remained the same when we referred to mediastinal lymph node detection in pathological TNM. Positive predictive value and accuracy of CT were 64.4% and 58.3% respectively, in identifying mediastinal lymph nodes. These results showed that value of CT was limited in determining mediastinal lymph node involvement which was the most important factor in clinical staging of lung cancer.