Patient characteristics
| Patient | PET-CT (n=98) | CWU (n=91) | p Value |
| Mean age in years (range) | 62 (42–80) | 64 (38–80) | 0.222 |
| Sex (male (%)) | 53 (54) | 49 (54) | 0.974 |
| Staging procedures, n (%) | |||
| CT | 98 (100) | 91 (100) | – |
| PET-CT | 84 (86) | 0 (0) | <0.001 |
| Mediastinoscopy | 89 (91) | 88 (97) | 0.097 |
| EUS | 47 (48) | 35 (38) | 0.187 |
| EUS-FNA | 40 (41) | 29 (32) | 0.201 |
| EBUS | 8 (8) | 11 (12) | 0.368 |
| Histology at operation (n=60/n=73) | |||
| Adenocarcinoma | 29 | 29 | 0.330 |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 20 | 22 | |
| Large cell carcinoma | 4 | 12 | |
| Bronchioalveolar carcinoma | 0 | 1 | |
| NSCLC, other | 7 | 6 | |
| Benign | 0 | 3 | |
| Final N stage | |||
| N0–1 | 56 | 60 | 0.268 |
| N2–3 | 36 | 29 | |
| Nx | 6* | 2† | |
| Final N stage confirmed by (n) | |||
| Thoracotomy | 60 | 72 | 0.014 |
| Mediastinoscopy | 9 | 10 | |
| EUS-FNA | 19 | 7 | |
| EBUS-TBNA | 4 | 0 | |
| Not applicable | 6* | 2† | |
↵* In 4 patients M1 was found on PET-CT and further confirmation of N stage was not sought. One patient was N0–1, but considered inoperable due to co-existing disease. Explorative thoracotomy was performed in one patient due to inoperable T4 disease; N stage not confirmed.
↵† Explorative thoracotomy was performed in two patients due to inoperable T4 disease; N stage not confirmed.
CWU, conventional work-up; EBUS, endobronchial ultrasound; EUS, endoscopic ultrasound; FNA, fine needle aspiration; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer; PET, positron emission tomography; TBNA, transbronchial needle aspiration.