[Radical lung surgery interventions with special reference to lymphadenectomy].

Intraoperative lymph node staging plays an essential part in the surgical treatment of lung cancer. The mean number of resected lymph nodes in 237 patients was 17, with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 60. The largest number was found in N1 regions as expected. The number of resected nodes in the paratracheal, tracheobronchial and subcarinal region was 4, in the paraoesophageal and ligament region 1.2. Twenty-two percent of the whole group showed an N2 situation. In 45% of the patients with N2 invasion, we found a lymph node skipping and in 25% only one positive N2 node. Thus, it is obvious that without a systematic lymph node dissection an exact staging is not possible.