The Japanese database for the staging of lung cancer

From the beginning of the 60s, Japanese Lung Cancer Society (JLCS) proposed an original TNM classification of lung cancer based on a database of resected cases. The final step was the UICC classification edited in 1973. Complete hilar-mediastinal lymph node dissection was started in the same era and the concept of station number of lymph nodes was introduced. The proposal of definition of "early lung cancer" came from Japan with the subgroups of hilar and peripheral type. A new national database is now collected for the next revision of UICC TNM classification to be edited in 2007.