Changes in algorythm of surgical management for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

In Hungary the incidence of lung cancer is growing further and the proportion of patients undergoing surgery is less than 30%. Some improvement is indicated by the rate of explorations decreasing to less than 10%. On the other hand the number of adenocarcinomas has grown to take over the position of the squamous cell carcinomas among the patients operated on. In the recent few decades only some minor changes have occurred in the surgical treatment. For this reason when operability has been established new perspectives have been reviewed before drawing conclusions on the number of cases qualifying for resection. Phrenic and recurrent nerve lesions and in some cases metastases in some other organs do not mean inoperability in the absolute sense any more. Based on the new TNM system the criteria of the qualification for and the date of resection are identified by staging implemented reliably and in details. Palliative surgery may also be possible in some selected cases. A complex approach to the treatment of lung cancer is clearly coming into the focus of our attention. Though a resection is the most important episode here an adjuvant (post-operative) therapy and most recently added that a neoadjuvant (pre-operative) therapy shall improve the patient's chances for survival further, enhancing the favorable result caused by the resection itself. Both the limits and the options of he surgical treatment administered in the cases of metastases in the lung, the brain and the solitary suprarenal gland are discussed in details in the cases of NSCLC.