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Vol.42 No.7 contents

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Bronchoscopy in the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Mutsuo Kuba¹, Atsushi Nakamoto¹, Isoko Ohwan¹, Kunio Kyan¹, Shigeru Miyagi¹, Tsutomu Kawabata², Morio Ohta², Masayuki Kuniyoshi², Kiyoshi Ishikawa², Keiichiroh Genka³
Department of ¹Internal Medicine, ²Surgery, National Okinawa Hospital, Japan; ³Aiwa Clinic, Japan.

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Objective. To help in appreciating the significance of bronchoscopy in the diagnosis of lung cancer, basic knowledge essential to the procedure of bronchoscopy as well as endoscopic findings of lung cancer are described. Methods and Results. We outlined essential knowledge concerning bronchial anatomy and bronchoscopic technique, as well as the endoscopic findings of lung cancer. The lesion of non-early stage and early stage lung cancer of the hilar type is divided into three types (1. mucosal invasion type: (a) thickened type, (b) nodular type and (c) polypoid type, 2. submucosal invasion type, 3. extramural type) and four types (1. occult type, 2. thickened type, 3. nodular type, 4. polypoid type), respectively by the Japan Lung Cancer Society. Typical cases of each type were presented. A few unusual benign or with low-malignant tumors were also presented. It is important to identify the endoscopic type of lung cancer to suspect or confirm the histologic type and degree of the extent of carcinoma. Conclusion. Bronchoscopy is essential for establishing the histopathologic diagnosis and extent of lung cancer.
key words: Bronchoscopy, Lung cancer, Endoscopic type of lung cancer

JJLC 42 (7): 717-728, 2002