ABOUT LUNG CANCER: Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. More people die from lung cancer than from colon, breast and prostate cancers combined. Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, also one of the most difficult to diagnose early, because most lung cancers do not cause symptoms until the cancer has spread. Seventy-five percent of the time, when lung cancer is diagnosed, it is already in an advanced stage. Six out of 10 individuals with lung cancer die within one year of their diagnosis.

Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association

BIOPSY FOR LUNG TUMORS: Bronchoscopy, a flexible tube placed down the windpipe, can give doctors a good look at tumors in or close to the windpipe, but may be limited in its ability to see tumors in the lung, according to Doug Mullins, M.D., pulmonologist at Candler/St. Joseph's Hospital in Savannah, Ga. "With the bronchoscope alone, we can only see what's in the bronchial tube," Dr. Mullins said. "It would almost be like going into a tunnel and needing to see the fish outside the tunnel -- you're not going to see them."

Lung cancers also can be diagnosed with needle biopsies and even surgery, where the entire lump is removed, then biopsied.

A NEW ALTERNATIVE: Endobronchial ultrasound is a new procedure, much less invasive than surgery, that's now being used to identify and biopsy lung tissue to diagnose cancer and other lung diseases. This procedure uses a bronchoscope, placed down the windpipe, with a mini-ultrasound probe attached to the end. When the doctor gets to the point where he wants to look outside the bronchial tube, he turns the ultrasound on; the endobronchial ultrasound allows the doctor to see outside of the walls of the "tunnel" or bronchial tube, areas he could not see with the bronchoscope alone, according to Dr. Mullins.

Once the ultrasound locates abnormal tissue, a flexible needle is sent down into the tube of the bronchoscope to take several samples; these samples are handed over to the pathologist standing by a few feet away, for an immediate analysis. Results can come within minutes.

Though this new procedure doesn't enable doctors to diagnose lung cancer any earlier, Dr. Mullins says it does allow them to figure out if it's cancer without cutting the patient open, and it can yield an answer more quickly than other methods. The procedure is done under sedation; the patient goes home the same day. Dr. Mullins says we can expect to see many more doctors using endobronchial ultrasound in the future.