Histopathological grading of response to induction chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a preliminary study.

Management of locally advanced NSCLC is controversial. Induction chemotherapy followed by surgery has become an accepted approach for Stage III disease. However, the clinical assessment of the efficacy of preoperative treatment is inaccurate. We propose a four-grade histopathological evaluation of the response to chemotherapy based on the analysis of 20 evaluable cases and compared with clinical outcome. Follow-up ranged from 12 to 68 months. Correlation between different grading of necrosis and survival is statistically significant. Based on these preliminary results, we suggest that grading of response is a valid parameter to evaluate standard regimens and novel drug associations in larger trials.