Preoperative risk assessment with computed tomography in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery

Whole lung computed tomography (CT) is included in the routine workup in the preoperative assessment of patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer. The main aim of whole lung scanning may be to identify intrapulmonary small metastasis and regional lymph node swelling (1). The secondary aim may be to make a structural assessment of the lung to identify the presence or absence of underlying lung diseases, such as pulmonary emphysema, fibrosis, or interstitial lung disease, as well as to investigate the anatomical variation of the pulmonary bronchovasculature (2). Unfortunately, whole lung CT is not used to quantify the global lung function. Due to technological improvement in computer software programs, the volume of the diseased lung and normal lung can be obtained separately by defining the threshold CT attenuation values in the normal lung and the diseased lung. The aim of the present study was to clarify the role of CT in the functional assessment of patients undergoing lung cancer surgery