Stereological estimates of nuclear star volume and vessels as predictors of chemotherapy response in small cell carcinoma of the lung: a preliminary report.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to evaluate the role of morphometric and clinical parameters in predicting chemotherapy responder patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung.


RESULTS
Morphometric studies were performed by means of point counting techniques. Forty-six patients were included in this study. Group 1 patients (n = 19) were those without response to chemotherapy; Group 2 (n = 27) was composed by patients with partial or complete response to chemotherapy. Logistic regression analysis was used to attain the best separation of non-responder from responder patients. Star volume of the nuclei and vessel were selected during the backward procedure as relevant variables to characterize the two groups of patients. The overall sensitivity of the model was 80.43%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that histopathological data may help to predict the chemotherapy response in patients with small cell lung carcinoma, and encourage the use of morphometric procedures in histopathological analysis of this type of lung tumours.
Caporrino
C
C
Pulmonary Division, Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Saldiva
P H
PH
Farhat
C A
CA
Takagaki
T Y
TY
Younes
R N
RN
Capelozzi
V L
VL
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D016015:Logistic Models; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016896:Treatment Outcome