[The role of intra-operative biopsy in the diagnosis of regional metastases of lung cancer].

The paper discusses the results of a histologic study of intrathoracic lymph nodes removed during surgery for lung cancer in 621 cases at different stages of metastatic spread. The gross appearance of some lymph nodes did not match their real histologic pattern: about 36% of grossly-identifiable metastatic nodes were microscopically shown to be intact whereas about 12% of grossly normal lymph nodes proved to be involved, particularly in cases of adenocarcinoma. Most of the enlarged and compact lymph nodes in cases of low-differentiated lung carcinoma revealed metastases. Intraoperative biopsy of intrathoracic lymph nodes followed by microscopy serves as a highly-predictive procedure in assessing the extent of regional dissemination of lung cancer.