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ASTER—another flower in the diagnostic field of lung cancer?

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 8, pages 198–199 (2011)Cite this article

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Mediastinal staging of patients with lung cancer is used to avoid futile thoracotomies. Endoscopic, esophageal and bronchial ultrasound procedures are methods to identify involved lymph nodes. The ASTER study indicates that the sensitivity of these new techniques is high, reducing the number of futile thoracotomies and improving outcomes when combined with mediastinoscopy.

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Figure 1: Transversal view of the chest at the level of the main carina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Thoracic Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, Amsterdam, 1066CX, The Netherlands

    Paul Baas

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  1. Paul Baas
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Baas, P. ASTER—another flower in the diagnostic field of lung cancer?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 8, 198–199 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.22

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