Bronchoscopy has been widely used for a histologic diagnosis through a transbronchial lung biopsy or for staging of patients with peripheral lung cancer. However a transthoracic needle aspiration (TTNA) has been used more widely for a histologic diagnosis in patient with a small size nodule or a nodule located in the outer portion of the lung because of the low diagnostic yield of bronchoscopy in these cases. The role of bronchoscopy for staging is not well established in patients with peripheral lung cancer diagnosed by a TTNA or patients who are undergoing surgery without a histologic diagnosis.

To evaluate the role of bronchoscopy for the staging in patients with peripheral lung cancer, who were diagnosed by TTNA, the medical records of 86 patients with peripheral lung cancer who underwent bronchoscopy at Kyungpook National University Hospital between January 1995 and May 1997 were reviewed.

While 53 cases had normal bronchoscopic findings, 33 cases had abnormal bronchoscopic findings comprising 9 cases of tumor, 10 cases of infiltration and 14 cases of compression of which there were 25 cases of T1 and 8 T2 endoscopically. The bronchoscopic staging did not influence the changes of the clinical stage of lung cancer. The frequencies of bronchial involvement tended to increase as the sizes of the nodule increased. Among the 42 patients who underwent surgery, 9 patient staged higher after operation because of lymph node involvement in 8 patients and the involvement of the pulmonary artery in 1 patient. No case staged above after operation due to a bronchial invasion.

These findings suggests that bronchoscopy is not useful for staging in patients with peripheral lung cancer diagnosed by a TTNA.