Mediastinal staging for non-small cell lung cancer revisited. It is being done under aegis of ICON and Lung cancer consortium asia.

Mediastinal staging is a crucial factor in the decision making in patients with non-metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Mediastinoscopy has historically been the gold standard for this purpose. With the advent of PET-CT, the role of an invasive staging modality like mediastinoscopy has been diminishing. Newer developments in endoscopic staging like EBUS and EUS-FNA have also provided means to get a cytological diagnosis of enlarged lymph nodes. With the meta-analyses showing encouraging results of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in operable lung cancers including the early stage disease, the sanctity of invasive mediastinal staging for the sole purpose for selecting patients for upfront surgery is debatable. This article discusses the various modalities for mediastinal staging in NSCLC. We also present our perspective regarding the need for a balanced approach between the accuracy of mediastinal staging, invasiveness of the staging modalities, and alternate staging methods. With the liberal use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in operable NSCLC, the role of invasive mediastinal staging procedures is likely to get limited further, giving way to non-invasive staging modalities like PET-CT.