Delays in Managing Lung Cancer: The Importance of Fast-Tracking in the Clinical Care

Early diagnosis in lung cancer is desirable, because surgical resection offers the only hope of cure. In the face of suggestive symptoms, a normal plain chest radiograph does not exclude the diagnosis, and investigation is essential. The various imaging changes seen on computerized tomography and PET scan provide strong suggestive evidence of lung cancer, but proof of diagnosis rests on histologic examination, material that may be obtained by one of the following diagnostic procedures: bronchoscopy, mediastinoscopy, fine needle aspiration biopsy, thoracentesis and pleural biopsy, lymph node biopsy, and exploratory thoracotomy.