Abstract

Since the introduction of low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for patients athigh risk of lung cancer, the detection rate of suspicious lung cancer has increased. Inaddition, there have been many advances in therapeutics targeting oncogenic driversin non-small cell lung cancer. Therefore, accurate pathological diagnosis of lung cancer,including molecular diagnosis, is increasingly important. This review examines theproblems in the pathological diagnosis of suspected lung cancer. For successful pathologicaldiagnosis of lung cancer, clinicians should determine the appropriate modalityof the diagnostic procedure, considering individual patient characteristics, CT findings,and the possibility of complications. Furthermore, clinicians should make efforts toobtain a sufficient amount of tissue sample using non- or less-invasive procedures forpathological diagnosis and biomarker analysis.