Stereologically estimated mean nuclear volume and histopathologic malignancy grading as predictors of disease extent in non-small cell lung carcinoma

The aim of this study was to investigate the value of the architectural grade, cytologic atypia, mitotic counts and stereologically estimated mean nuclear volume in predicting the stage of disease in non-small cell lung carcinomas. Hematoxylin-Eosin-stained sections from 53 non-small cell lung carcinomas were evaluated in terms of the morphologic and morphometric features mentioned above. Mean nuclear volume was estimated stereologically. Operable and inoperable tumor stages were compared concerning the parameters examined. There was no significant difference between operable and inoperable tumor stages in terms of the architectural grade in both squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas, although we found a positive correlation between architectural grades and increasing stages in SCC. Significant differences were found concerning atypia, mitosis grades, and the score combining both variables (C2) when comparing operable with inoperable tumor stages in squamous cell carcinomas but not in adenocarcinomas (Chi square, p = 0.013, p = 0.008 and p = 0.008 for squamous cell carcinomas respectively). The mean nuclear volumes of tumor cells in both squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas showed statistically significant differences between operable and inoperable stages (p = 0.05 and 0.02 respectively). We conclude that an assessment of the proliferative activity and the degree of cell atypia, as well as an estimation of mean nuclear volume in conjunction with architectural grade, may contribute to predicting the extent of the disease and outcome, particularly in SCC. On the other hand, only mean nuclear volume appears to be a useful parameter for determining the course of the disease in adenocarcinomas.