[Staging of lung cancer by computerized tomography: evaluation based on surgical experience]

One hundred seventy patients with M0 bronchogenic carcinoma were preoperatively evaluated by CT staging whose results were correlated with surgical findings. A number of over and understaging were observed in assessing mediastinal nodes involvement, chest wall invasion, mediastinal pleura and vessels invasion as well as pulmonary vessels involvement. In conclusion, the Authors believe that no patient surgical indication should be excluded on the basis of CT evidence of intrathoracic invasion, in the light of the demonstrated potential for false-positive diagnoses.