RT Book, Section A1 Ducko, Christopher T. A1 Jaklitsch, Michael T. A2 Sugarbaker, David J. A2 Bueno, Raphael A2 Colson, Yolonda L. A2 Jaklitsch, Michael T. A2 Krasna, Mark J. A2 Mentzer, Steven J. A2 Williams, Marcia A2 Adams, Ann SR Print(0) ID 1105842509 T1 Radical Lymphadenectomy T2 Adult Chest Surgery, 2e YR 2015 FD 2015 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 978-0-07-178189-3 LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1105842509 RD 2024/10/05 AB When treating patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it is important to assign an accurate clinical or pathologic stage to the disease at the time of diagnosis. This adds value to the process of selecting the most appropriate therapy for the individual patient, whether it be surgical resection, neoadjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or definitive chemoradiation. The current cancer staging convention uses the basic descriptors originally proposed by Denoix1 primary tumor (T), lymph node involvement (N), and tumor metastasis (M). The contemporary classification system was adopted worldwide in 1997 after features of the 1986 combined American Joint Committee on Cancer and the International Union Against Cancer TNM staging system2 were reconciled with the 1983 American Thoracic Society statement on cancer staging. The organization responsible for updating this system is the International Association for Lung Cancer Staging which revised the staging system in 20093 and will do so again in 2016. The value of classifying NSCLC patients according to a uniform staging system that has prognostic implications based on stage grouping is difficult to overstate.