Annali italiani di chirurgia
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Comparative Study
[TNM staging system of lung carcinoma: historical notes, limitations and controversies].
The TNM System as originally proposed by Denoix in 1946, provides a consistent, reproducible description of the anatomic extent of disease in cancer patients at a specific time in the life history of the cancer. C. F. ⋯ Many different types of tumour such as multiple masses, synchronous multiple primitives, discontinuous tumour foci in visceral or parietal pleura as well neoplastic involvement of various mediastinal structures, could be now staged with a major benefit for their treatment protocols. In conclusion the Staging System represents today a standard clinical methodology which basically helps in a better clinical approach to lung cancer even if it cannot fully cover and consider all the innumerable manifestations of the tumor. Therefore, if it is true that in the near future the new molecular predictors of prognosis are expected to measure more deeply the extent of disease, for the present time the International Staging System still continues to act as the best common method for measuring prognosis.