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Do you routinely order a thoracic or brachial plexus MRI for patients with apical lung cancers?

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Do you routinely order MRI for patients with apical lung cancers?

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2 Answers
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Radiation Oncology · Cleveland Clinic
Answered on

For patients with superior sulcus tumors (or apical lung tumors), their clinical presentation usually drives the choices of imaging modality. In my experience, if a patient has an apical tumor and presents with no symptoms at all, then I would not see the utility or need to require MRI imaging, unle...

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Medical Oncology · Baptist Cancer Center
Answered on

Yes. Superior sulcus malignancies, by definition, are either clinical T3 (invading the chest wall) or T4 (invading mediastinal structures, including the vertebrae and brachial plexus). Therefore, an MRI of the thoracic inlet is a standard recommendation in the evaluation of all such patients at the ...

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