[Monitoring of small cell bronchopulmonary cancer by bronchial biopsies]

This retrospective study of 149 patients with small cell lung cancer highlights the value of bronchial endoscopies combined with biopsies for the follow-up of these cases. A control endoscopy performed during the third month showed that macroscopic lesions had completely disappeared in 42 percent of the patients. Each subsequent endoscopy offered a probability rising from 20 to 50 percent of diagnosing a recurrence in the patients explored. Our study particularly demonstrates the usefulness of bronchial biopsy at the initial site of the lesion, even when the bronchial mucosa seems to have returned to normal, since this biopsy is positive in 4.5 percent of the cases.