There are many ways to obtain pathology for lung cancer, depending on the location and size of the mass, the patient's constitution, symptoms, etc. The three most commonly used are puncture, bronchoscopy, and surgery.
Surgery is the most accurate way to obtain pathology, which can remove the lesion and determine the specific pathological type of the tumor and the scope of invasion, which is the most complete and accurate way to obtain the primary lesion among all examinations. However, not all patients can have surgery, not all patients need immediate surgery, and the operation itself is also a very cautious thing, and it is inappropriate to rush into surgery when it is not certain that it is a malignant tumor, so some other methods will be taken clinically to help us determine the nature of the disease.
Bronchoscopy is a commonly used examination, similar to gastroscopy, gastroscopy is the next tube into the stomach, bronchoscopy is the next tube into the bronchi of the lungs, mainly for ** type lung cancer. What is type ** lung cancer? It is lung cancer located near the hilum of the lungs, which is mainly some large bronchi, and bronchoscopy can enter these bronchi through the mouth or nose, and obtain a tissue sample from the surface of these bronchi. Bronchoscopy will not cause special harm to the body, it is relatively safe, and a few will have complications such as bleeding and fever, but it is generally mild. The defect of bronchoscopy is also obvious, and the pathological tissue obtained by bronchoscopy is limited, so in many cases, it is not possible to remove tissue with cancer cells, and repeated examinations are required to finally diagnose it.
Puncture is a minimally invasive test that is mainly used for peripheral lung cancer. Peripheral lung cancer corresponds to type ** lung cancer, which is a relatively outward position of lung tissue, and these locations do not have large bronchi, only bronchioles, and bronchoscopy cannot enter, so it is not suitable for bronchoscopy. The principle of puncture examination is to use a thin needle through the **, chest wall, directly inserted into the lesion site, because the needle body is hollow, so a part of the pathological tissue of the lesion can be obtained. Puncture is an invasive examination, but the trauma is very small, and the diameter of the needle for the commonly used fine needle puncture is basically less than 09mm, not even 05mm, so the trauma is very small, and the probability of complications is not high, so it is a relatively safe way to check. Puncture also has certain defects, the tumor can grow very large, but the real cancerous site may be very small, so the puncture may not necessarily be able to take cancerous tissue, like bronchoscopy, it may take multiple examinations to finally diagnose it.
Surgery, bronchoscopy, and paracentesis are the most common methods of obtaining pathological tissue in clinical practice, but there are also some uncommon modalities, mainly by pleural effusion, sputum, and metastasis.
Some patients have pleural effusion at the beginning of the diagnosis, and at this time, the pleural fluid can be taken to look for cancer cells, especially bloody pleural effusion, and cancer cells can often be found, so as to confirm the diagnosis. The main component of pleural fluid is water, and there are relatively few cells, so it is not easy to find cancer cells from pleural fluid. However, if cancer cells are found in the pleural effusion, it means that the disease has been staged relatively late, and the disease is more severe.
Cancer cells can sometimes be found in sputum, especially in patients with hemoptysis, which indicates that the tumor has invaded the blood vessels, and some cancer cells may be spit out with bloody sputum. So sometimes doctors ask people to collect bloody sputum and check the cells in the sputum to confirm the disease. However, the probability of finding cancer cells in the sputum is very low, and patients who cannot undergo surgery, puncture and bronchoscopy can choose this method.
Another way is to take pathological tissue from metastases, which is sometimes difficult to obtain from the primary lesion, but metastases are not necessarily difficult. For example, if the lymph nodes in the neck of lung cancer metastasize, the disease can be diagnosed by examining the lymph nodes in the neck. The pathological results of metastases and primary lesions are basically the same, and when it is difficult to obtain pathological tissues from the primary lesions, it becomes a suitable choice to obtain pathological tissues from metastases.
Having said so much, it is all about how to do pathology, pathological results are the gold standard for the diagnosis of malignant tumors, and they are also indispensable evidence, and most of the methods of Western medicine need the support of pathological results to be carried out. Therefore, the pathological examination should not be too troublesome, in order to carry out the ** smoothly, these are worth it.