The factors associated with the prognosis of lung cancer patients can be distinguished into five different, not necessarily independent terms, namely I) cancer burden; II) cancer cell-related features; III)) host-tissue conditions; IV) therapeutic regimes; V) environment and behavior of the patient. In non-small cell lung cancer, the first prognosis-associated feature is the selection of an individual patient for surgery which is based upon the classical and confirmed prognosis-associated features of the pT and pN stage as given by the UICC. Additional, not included prognostic indicators comprise those of tumor cell textures, features of tumor cells (carrier-immobilized histoblood group A and H trisaccharides, animal lectins CL-14, CL-16), tumor cell nuclei (DNA analysis), tumor cell - host tissue reaction (expression of binding capacities of macrophage migration inhibitory factor, distance between tumor cells and lymphocytes), gene abnormalities, and alterations of the host tissue (hung parenchyma). Multivariant analysis ranks textural and cytometric features idler lymph nodes invasion and before the pT staging. It can be expected that in addition to the TNM stages some of the discussed prognostic indicators such as binding capacities for CL-16 in advanced tumors and textural and cytometric features will influence the selection of patients for surgical treatment.
