[Thoracic oncology in Archivos de Bronconeumología 2008]

The articles on thoracic oncology published in this journal during the year 2008 are briefly commented on. As regards the epidemiology, it is noted that the standardised incidence rate of lung cancer in males is starting to decline, and there is another study that analysed links between two common diseases, COPD and lung cancer. Other works have focused on aspects such as diagnosis, staging or prognosis, and analysing the value of positron emission tomography in the assessment of a solitary pulmonary nodule, the effectiveness of aspiration transbronchial needle aspiration in mediastinal staging, the prognostic significance of the over-expression and amplification of c-erbB-2 in patients with small cell carcinoma. As regards treatment, other authors analysed the survival of patients with N2 lung cancer detected during or after lung resection surgery. The new therapeutic technique of ablation of lung tumours by radiofrequency in the early stages is the subject of two publications that describe its basis, indications, contraindications and first results. Lastly, the communication skills needed to inform patients, surgery of lung metastases, and the presentation of an unusual case of carcinoid tumour were the subjects of other articles.