Therapeutic pathomorphism in patients with non-small cell lung cancer during multimodality treatment

Therapeutic pathomorphism was studied in 69 patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer during multimodality treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclixel/carboplatin. Complete regression of the tumor was achieved in 5.8±2.8% of cases with fourth-degree pathomorphism, in 37.5±5.8% of those with its third-degree, in 44.9±5.9% of those with second-degree, and in 11.6±3.8% with first-degree. High-grade carcinomas (G3) were found to be most susceptible to chemotherapy; second-third-degree therapeutic pathomorphism developed in 38.6% of patients with squamous cell lung cancer and in 65.2% of those with adenocarcinomas. In moderate-grade carcinomas (G2), second-third pathomorphism was observed in 29.5 and 21.7%, respectively (p < 0.05). There was a direct relationship between the long-term results (time to disease progression) and the short-term overall chemotherapy response and the degree of the pathomorphism.

non-small cell lung cancer, multimodality treatment, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, therapeutic pathomorphism