The newly proposed lung cancer tnm classification: Review and clinical implications

Lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer-related mortality in the Western world, with more than 1,000,000 deaths each year [1]. Staging is vital in the approach to lung cancer since it offers both prognostic information and a guide for treatment decisions. A unified and universally accepted staging system is also essential to standardize nomenclature for international comparisons of clinical trials. The TNM system provides a detailed description of cancers based on the extent of the anatomic involvement, by defining the primary tumor (T), the regional lymph node involvement (N), and the presence of distant metastases (M) [2]. In this chapter we will review the proposed changes for the eighth edition of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) TNM staging system, and we will discuss its clinical implications, strengths, and limitations.