IS UPPER AIRWAY ENDOSCOPY UNDER GENERAL-A NESTHESIA USEFUL IN THE DETECTION OF HEAD AND NECK CANCERS SYNCHRONOUS WITH LUNG CANCERS

The frequency of lung cancers associated with synchronous head and nec k malignancies can be evalueted beetween 1,5 to 2%. The purpose of our work was to determine if complete endoscopic head and neck examinatio n performed under general anesthesia was superior than clinical head a nd neck examination for the diagnosis of these synchronous additional tumors. From july 1991 to august 1992, we realised a prospective study on 58 consecutive patients suffering from pulmonary removable lung ca ncers. All the patients had a clinical head and neck examination durin g the preoperative period. Immediatly before thoracotomy a complete en doscopy of head and neck aerian and digestive tract was performed. Dur ing this last examination 18 new macroscopical lesions were discovered in 13 patients: benign lesions (n = 17), oral cavity and laryngeal dy plasia (n = 1). The one gingivolingual sulcus carcinoma, already disco vered by the clinical examination, was confirmed. This study suggests that complete head and neck endoscopy is not superior than clinical ex amination for the diagnosis of synchronous malignancies before lung ca ncers removal.