Surgical staging and advanced surgical techniques in early stage non-small cell lung cancers

Abstract

A 70-year-old female patient, who did not have any symptoms, was admitted to the hospital for routine health checkup. She had no significant past medical history other than a 40 pack-year history of smoking. Systematic physical examination was normal. Chest X-ray revealed a suspected opacity in the left upper zone. Thoracic computerized tomography showed peripheral solitary pulmonary nodule in the left lung upper lobe. FDG PET/CT demonstrated high FDG uptake in the left upper lobe nodule with maximal standard uptake value (SUVmax) 7,4 (Fig. 11.1). There was no FDG uptake in the other systems. Cranial MRI did not reveal any metastatic lesion. The patient was clinically staged as cT1aN0M0. Minimally invasive surgery was recommended to patient for diagnosis and treatment.