Apport de l'imagerie médicale conventionnelle dans la prise en charge des cancers bronchiques

For lung cancer staging, both CT scan of the chest with contrast and PET-CT imaging are recommended. Suspected mediastinal/hilar nodes and isolated distant metastasis have to be pathologically confirmed. Despite some radiological patterns, CT appearance has a low specificity in predicting the histological type. Complications and other thoracic pathologies are described on CT scan. Percutaneous biopsies and tumour radio ablations are guided by CT scan. The same imaging modality is used for planning stereotactic radiation therapy, electromagnetic endobronchial navigation and other minimally invasive bronchoscopic airway interventions. Dual energy CT increases contrast and provides a lung perfusion imaging. Iterative reconstructions and dual energy CT together allow for the near future a considerable dose reduction.