Changing Modalities in the Management of Lung Cancer after the Invention of Computed Tomography

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in both men and women. The prevalence of lungcancer is second only to that of prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Lung cancer recently surpassed heartdisease as the leading cause of smoking-related mortality. Most lung carcinomas are diagnosed at an advanced stage, conferringa poor prognosis. The need to diagnose lung cancer at an early and potentially curable stage is obvious. In addition, mostpatients who develop lung cancer smoke and have smoking-related damage to the heart and lungs, making aggressive surgicalor multimodality therapies less viable options.Aim: This study aims to access the role of computerized tomography in the surgical management of carcinoma of the lung.Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study from 2014 to 2019, a period of 5 years. Atotal of 22 cases entered in the study.In this study, we compare both pre-operative computed tomography (CT) image and intraoperative findings and level of operability.Results: CT imaging will continue to play a major role in the evaluation of lung cancer. With the advent of non-invasive imagingmodalities like multi-slice/spiral CT scan, the use of invasive screening and staging procedures including bronchography hasbeen pushed to the periphery of staging workup; a total of 35 patients with carcinoma lung were studied. Seven patients werewith carcinoma lung Stage II, one patient with carcinoma Stage III, and 27 were in Stage IV. Seven patients underwent primarysurgical treatment. Other patients were treated appropriately with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or a combination of both.Conclusion: CT is still the cornerstone of imaging studies in the pre-operative staging and post-therapeutic evaluation of lungcancer. Treatment of lung cancer depends on the cancers specific cell type, how far it has spread and the patient’s performancestatus. CT is very useful for this purpose.