Systematic endobronchial ultrasound-guided mediastinal staging versus positron emission tomography for comprehensive mediastinal staging in NSCLC before radical radiotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer a pilot study

Abstract

Despite known limitations of positron emission tomography (PET) for mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), radiation treatment fields are generally based on PET-identified disease extent. However, no studies have examined the accuracy of FDG-PET/CT on a per-node basis in patients being considered for curative-intent radiotherapy in NSCLC. In a prospective trial, patients with NSCLC being considered for definitive thoracic radiotherapy ( systemic chemotherapy) underwent minimally invasive systematic mediastinal evaluation with endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) following noninvasive staging with integrated PET-CT. Thirty patients u..