Management of Lung Cancer Invading the Superior Sulcus

Johannes R Kratz; Gavitt Woodard; David M Jablons

doi:10.1016/j.thorsurg.2017.01.008

Management of Lung Cancer Invading the Superior Sulcus

Thorac Surg Clin. 2017 May;27(2):149-157. doi: 10.1016/j.thorsurg.2017.01.008.

Authors

Johannes R Kratz¹, Gavitt Woodard², David M Jablons³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0118, San Francisco, CA 94143-0118, USA. Electronic address: johannes.kratz@ucsf.edu.
² Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0470, 513 Parnassus Avenue, 321, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA.
³ Department of Thoracic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 1600 Divisadero Street, Room A-743, San Francisco, CA 94143-1724, USA.

PMID: 28363369
DOI: 10.1016/j.thorsurg.2017.01.008

Abstract

Superior sulcus tumors have posed a formidable therapeutic challenge since their original description by Pancoast and Tobias in the early twentieth century. Initial therapeutic efforts with radiotherapy were associated with high rates of relapse and mortality. Bimodality therapy with complete surgical resection in the 1960s paved the way for trimodality therapy as the current standard of care in the treatment of superior sulcus tumors. The evolution of treatment approaches over time has provided outcomes that come increasingly closer to rivaling those of similarly staged nonapical lung cancer.

Keywords: Apical; Non–small cell lung cancer; Pancoast; Superior sulcus; Tumor.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / diagnosis
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / pathology
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / therapy*
Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant
Humans
Neoadjuvant Therapy
Neoplasm Invasiveness
Neoplasm Staging
Pancoast Syndrome / diagnosis
Pancoast Syndrome / pathology
Pancoast Syndrome / therapy*
Pneumonectomy / methods
Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted