[Value of computerized tomography in the evaluation of the operability of bronchial cancers]

65 computer tomographs were taken of 79 patients with bronchial carcinoma for the purpose of determining operability. Included were 49 computer tomographs of the thoracic region, 7 of the epigastrium, and 9 of the skull. CT, a noninvasive radiological diagnostic method, was used in the above cases not only for diagnosis but even more for high-accuracy staging and thus therapy planning. CT accuracy regarding assessment of local operability amounted to 97.9 per cent (n = 49). There was only one case in which tumour infiltration into the aorta had been overlooked. Diagnosis restricted to conventional tomography gave rise to four thoracotomies which proved to be useless for local inoperability due to tumour infiltration of the mediastinum. The advantages of computed tomography over conventional radiological approaches were found to be primarily based on possible detection of mediastinal lymph node metastases as well as tumour infiltration of organs adjacent to the mediastinum and of the thoracic wall. The diagnostic potential implied in computed tomography could not be optimally utilised until CT was simultaneously applied to epigastric organs. Therefore, basic examinations for preoperative staging of bronchial carcinoma should by all means include computed tomography in addition to conventional radiological methods and bronchoscopy.