[Clinical protocol for study and treatment of bronchogenic carcinoma (author's transl)]

Bronchogenic carcinoma constitutes one of the primary causes of death in our population. The only means of controlling the disease in a significant way is by surgery, which about a third of the patients undergo. This fact, together with the age at which the pathology appears, its frequent association with chronic pulmonary disease, and the rapidity of its metastatic spread, make it necessary to establish a protocol for the study, diagnosis, and treatment of bronchogenic carcinoma. These norms should be applicable in prospective epidemiologic studies and for evaluating methods of diagnosis and treatment. The Interhospital Bronchogenic Carcinoma Co-operative Group has established a protocol, which includes the criteria of operability, resectability, preoperative examinations, indications of mediastinoscopy, etc. The authors mention the histopathologic classification, the TNM criteria, and the characteristics of localized or advanced disease.