Abstract
Educational aims
To explain the importance of discriminating between different histological types of NSCLC.
To explain the differences between large cell carcinoma (NOS) and their variants.
To link precise histopathological class with prognosis
Summary The histopathological classification of lung cancer was revised in 1999, and, in addition, descriptions of their phenotypic and genetic abnormalities were reported in 2004. Several changes have occurred that increased the clinical significance of lung cancer histopathological classification. These include the subclassification of large cell carcinoma, which was defined on a negative basis (on exclusion criteria), into variants which are defined on objective histopathological positive criteria that endowed them with a strong clinical significance.
- ©ERS 2005
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