Utilization of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and Wang's nodal map for the identification of mediastinum and hilar lymph nodes.
BACKGROUND
Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), serving as a remarkably invaluable and minimally invasive technique, has been widely used for the diagnosis and staging of mediastinal adenopathy and masses. To date, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and Wang's nodal map are two well-documented intrathoracic lymph node guidelines for the TBNA procedure.


METHODS
We characterized IASLC's and Wang's map, and interpreted the correlation of the two maps station by station.


RESULTS
The pivotal role of IASLC map is to determine N descriptor in the tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging system of lung cancer, whilst Wang's map is employed to facilitate the localization of biopsy sites for bronchoscopists during TBNA performance. Furthermore, stations 1, 3 and 5 in Wang' map are equivalent to 4R station in IASLC' system, while stations 4 and 6 in Wang's account for IASLC station 4L as N2 stations. In addition, Wang's stations 2, 8 and 10 are correlated with station 7 in IASLC's. Wang's stations 7 and 9 are responsible for station 11R in IASLC's map.


CONCLUSIONS
Given their unique benefits and limitations, and the practical links between the two maps, it appears reasonable to highlight the significance of their complementary utilization upon TBNA performance and lung cancer staging.
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Yang
Y
Xia
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, People's Hospital, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, Henan, China ; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Yun
Y
Ma
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Sixto
S
Arias
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Hans
H
Lee
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, People's Hospital, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou, Henan, China ; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Ko-Pen
KP
Wang
Bronchoscopy; TBNA; lymph node map