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

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Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Radiation Oncology · Cleveland Clinic

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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Mednet Member
Medical Oncology · Baptist Cancer Center

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