title: Prognostic value of pre-treatment lymphocyte count and T cell levels in localized bronchogenic carcinoma.
abstract: In the patient with clinically localized bronchogenic carcinoma, the pre-treatment peripheral blood lymphocyte count and the thymus-dependent lymphocyte (T cell) level correlated with the prognosis of the tumor histology was either squamous cell, oat cell, or undifferentiated carcinoma. Patients whose pre-treatment lymphocyte count was less than 1,000/ml or whose T cell level was less than 750/ml either died or developed distant metastases by nine months after treatment of their localized tumor. By contrast, 55% of patients whose pre-treatment T cell level was greater than 750/ml were alive and without evidence of metastases nine months after treatment (P less than 0.02). Analysis of survival of these patients by the life-table method through the first post-treatment year further demonstrates the prognostic value of a low pre-treatment lymphocyte count or T cell level. The pre-treatment lymphocyte count and T cell level in patients with adenocarcinoma did not correlate with prognosis.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002283:Carcinoma, Bronchogenic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes