[Proximal bronchial invasion of lung cancer: a clinicopathological study].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the characteristics of proximal bronchial invasion of lung cancer of different types.


METHODS
Proximal bronchus of 151 operatively resected specimens of hilar type lung cancer was selected for cross-sectional pathological study. Forty one specimens were obtained from total pulmonectomy, and 110 from pulmonary lobectomy.


RESULTS
Evidence showed that the direct invasion of tumour cells through the submucosal layer or multiple layers was the major form of lung cancer spread; 96.6% of the cancerous invasion occurred at the proximal bronchial wall less than 1.5 cm apart from the margin of the cancer. The extension of invasion was correlated with the histopathologic type of cancer, mode of invasion and TNM classification(pT, pN). Besides, the invasion in the bronchial wall by metastatic lymph nodes was also an important way for the cancer spread.


CONCLUSIONS
In order to achieve radical removal of tumor, it is imperative to keep a distance of 1.5 cm or more between the excision margin of the bronchus and the tumor, and to completely resect the hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes.
Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou.
J
J
Xu
Q
Q
Yu
X
X
Liu
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001980:Bronchi / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods