Cost-effectiveness of endoscopic mediastinal staging

Lung cancer is the first cause of cancer-related mortality. Mediastinal staging has a main role in the definition of the therapeutic strategy in early-stage and locally-advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Non-invasive mediastinal staging with CT or PET imaging has relatively limited accuracy, and nodal biopsy may be required to reach adequate staging results. In the last two decades endoscopic techniques have been increasingly used in the field of mediastinal staging thanks to a reduced invasiveness and to the possibility of obtaining a more thorough assessment in comparison with surgical techniques. However, the ideal staging strategy is still a matter for debate, particularly considering the cost-effectiveness of the different approaches. Complication-rate, costs, impact on quality of life, time delay to treatment and survival of the different staging techniques still have to be analyzed in detail. Other issues to be discussed are the optimal combination of staging approaches and the influence of factors as the prevalence of nodal disease on the cost-effectiveness of the different methods. Future issues of invasive staging concern the possibility of extending the definition of nodal status to N1 intrapulmonary nodes, in the light of the development of new oncological and surgical therapeutic approaches.