Diagnosis and staging of lung and pleural malignancy - an overview of tissue sampling techniques and the implications for pathological assessment.

Malignant diseases of the lungs and pleura are common causes of morbidity and mortality throughout the developed world. Determining the appropriate treatment strategies for an individual patient requires a multidisciplinary approach integrating input from many disciplines including pathology. In this overview, we discuss diagnosis of lung and pleural malignancy from the pathologist's perspective, placing particular emphasis on methods available to obtain material for pathological assessment, and their implications for diagnosis and provision of information to guide patient management.