ABSTRACT

I. Introduction 385

II. Cellular Evolution of Lung Cancer 387

III. Imaging Modalities 387

A. Autoflourescence Bronchoscopy 387

B. High-Magnification Bronchovideoscopy 390

C. Narrow-Band Imaging 391

D. Optical Coherence Tomography 392

E. Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy 394

IV. Conclusions 395

References 396

I. Introduction

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States.

The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 173,770 new cases

of lung cancer diagnosed in 2004 and that 160,440 people will die of lung

cancer in the same year (1). According to these estimates, lung cancer will rep-

resent 13% of all new cases of cancer diagnosed when compared with 17% for prostate cancer, 16% for breast cancer, 8% for colon cancer, and 4% for skin

cancer. However, more people will die of lung cancer in 2004 than of the

earlier listed cancers combined. In fact, deaths due to lung cancer are estimated

to account for 28% of all the cancer related deaths in the United States in 2004.