Discordance between clinical and post-surgical staging of non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Clinical staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by CT and PET, with or without endobronchial ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration of lymph nodes (EBUS-TBNA), underpins the clinical management of patients and informs disease prognosis. Discordance between the clinical and post-surgical staging of NSCLC can lead to treatment failure and increased morbidity, with no mortality benefit. In this study, we compared the clinical and post-surgical staging of 136 lobectomies performed for NSCLC at Royal Perth and Fiona Stanley Hospitals between 2016 and 2021.