[NSCLC of early stage. Imaging exploration of the mediastinum].

INTRODUCTION

The lung cancers are among the five most frequent cancers (and incidence continues to increase in men and females), with the highest percentage of mortality and an obvious stagnation of surviving rates, in spite of therapeutic improvements.

STATE OF ART: The lung cancers constitute a more mixed group than expected, with unpredictable behaviours and sensitivities to treatments. The detection of early small lesions allowing a drastic surgery and an adjuvant chemotherapy improve the prognostic, if we can differentiate precisely and effectively the resectable tumors from the others.

PERSPECTIVES: The analysis of the earliest radio-clinical, histological and surgical studies associated with the most recent technical evolutions of multidetector CT scan and PET scan, among others, improve our understanding and organization of screenings, radio-clinic and histologic diagnostics, as well as the evaluation of the tumoral extension of non small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC).

CONCLUSION

Notably, the WHO histological classification of lung cancer, the diagnostic algorithms of solitary nodules, the mediastinal lymph nodes mapping and the TNM staging are so redefined to achieve effective improvements on the prognosis of such cancers.