Pre and post operative diagnosis of lung cancer patients: Is there a concordance?

Abstract Background The diagnosis of lung cancer is essential to customize the care of patients. Their management is based on histological diagnosis and extent of disease at time of diagnosis. Aim of the study To study the impact of preoperative and postoperative pathological diagnosis of a group of patients managed for lung cancer. Patients and methods This study was a single-center retrospective study. The duration of inclusion was 4 years (1 January 2011–31 December 2014). We compared the preoperative pathological outcomes of medical procedures and postoperative histological data. Data values were estimated in percentage. Results one hundred patients were included in the study. The concordance rate between preoperative and postoperative diagnoses across all histological types, was 68%. The misdiagnosis rate and incomplete diagnosis rates were 10% and 22%. There were discrepancies regardless of diagnostic histologic type. Concordance rates of endoscopy, the trans-bronchial puncture, echo-endoscopy, and CT-puncture were 74%, 77%, 46%, and 66% respectively. Conclusion Our study shows pre and postoperative discrepancy in nearly 30% of cases. This finding should be taken into account because it can change the therapeutic management of these patients in particular of non-operated patients.