To compare computed tomography (CT) images and bronchoscopic findings of local tumor recurrence at the bronchial stump site in post-operative non-small cell l ung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

A retrospective study was conducted to review the CT images of 9 lung cancer cases that recurred at the bronchial stump site on 576 resected primary non-small cell lung cancers over a 9-year period. The CT images of the bronchial stump site recurrence were classified as: bronchial wall thickening, nodular or endobronchial polypoid lesion, multiplicity, and enhancement patterns. We classified the bronchoscopic findings based on the revised classification by the Japan Lung Cancer Society.

The histologic types of the 9 cases of lung cancer that recurred, included 7 squamous cell carcinomas, 1 adenocarcinoma, and 1 adenoid cystic carcinoma. The CT findings included bronchial wall thickening with nodules (n = 6) and endobronchial polypoid nodules (n = 3) with heterogeneous enhancement. The CT findings were further classified as nodular infiltrating type (n = 5), polypoid type (n = 3) and superficial infiltrating type (n = 1) on bronchoscopy.

Both a bronchoscopy and CT can be used as a complementary or alternative tool in evaluating bronchial stump site recurrences.