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Background: Assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes is integral in staging patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study delineated the lymph node staging practices of Canadian thoracic surgeons in patients with potentially resectable NSCLC., Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to Canadian Association of Thoracic Surgeons members (n = 86). Items addressed the use of imaging, thresholds/methods for preoperative invasive staging, and intraoperative node staging. Comparison was made against Canadian, American, and European guidelines., Results: Forty-seven surgeons (55%) responded. Although most stated they derived practices from published guidelines, a significant proportion did not reflect those recommendations. Most respondents ordered a positron emission tomography scan for every patient (87.2%), and the same proportion (87.2%) performed invasive staging selectively, with a wide range of indications. The most common thresholds were suspicious nodes on imaging (80.5%), tumor within the central third of the lung (67.5%), and tumor exceeding 3 cm (34.2%). Endobronchial ultrasound, alone or with endoscopic ultrasound, was selected as the initial staging procedure of choice by 47.9%, and 43.5% selected mediastinoscopy first. Of surgeons selecting mediastinoscopy, 61.9% reported some barriers to performing endobronchial ultrasound. There was variability, between surgeons and between lobes, in which nodes respondents harvested intraoperatively for given lobectomies. A sizeable minority (13%) did not routinely harvest lymph nodes intraoperatively., Conclusions: Determining the appropriate treatment and prognosis of NSCLC patients relies on proper staging. Significant variability exists in node staging practices in Canada as well as divergence from guidelines. This may result in understaging or overstaging patients and inappropriate care., (Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The treatment of non-small cell lung cancer is largely dependent on accurate staging in order to determine appropriate therapy. Despite advances in imaging, such as computed tomography and positron emission tomography, invasive mediastinal staging is frequently needed to rule out mediastinal involvement prior to curative-intent stereotactic ablative radiotherapy or surgical resection. Surgical mediastinal staging with mediastinoscopy, or anterior mediastinotomy, were traditionally considered the gold standard for invasive mediastinal staging. Endobronchial and endoscopic ultrasound have emerged as modern techniques that are being used as first-line options instead of surgical staging. As experience is gained with these newer techniques, the need for confirmatory surgical staging continues to diminish. This article addresses the situations in which negative results should be confirmed by a more invasive procedure.