Background: Non-invasive diagnostic strategies aimed at identifying biomarkers of lung cancer are of great interest for early cancer detection. The aim of this study was to set up a new method for identifying and quantifying volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled air of patients with non-small cells lung cancer (NSCLC), by comparing the levels with those obtained from healthy smokers and non-smokers, and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The VOC collection and analyses were repeated three weeks after the NSCLC patients underwent lung surgery.

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Short-term preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation could improve the exercise capacity of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are candidates for lung resection for non-small cell lung cancer.

Masaoka stages III-IV, incomplete resection and non-thymoma histology showed a significant impact in increasing recurrence and in worsening survival. The administration of adjuvant therapy after complete resection is associated with improved survival.

Lung neuroendocrine tumors are catalogued in four categories by the World Health Organization (WHO 2004) classification. Its reproducibility and prognostic efficacy was disputed. The WHO 2010 classification of digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms is based on Ki67 proliferation assessment and proved prognostically effective. This study aims at comparing these two classifications and at defining a prognostic grading system for lung neuroendocrine tumors. The study included 399 patients who underwent surgery and with at least 1 year follow-up between 1989 and 2011. Data on 21 variables were collected, and performance of grading systems and their components was compared by Cox regression and multivariable analyses. All statistical tests were two-sided. At Cox analysis, WHO 2004 stratified patients into three major groups with statistically significant survival difference (typical carcinoid vs atypical carcinoid (AC), PZ0.021; AC vs large-cell/ small-cell lung neuroendocrine carcinomas, P!0.001). Optimal discrimination in three groups was observed by Ki67% (Ki67% cutoffs: G1 !4, G2 4-!25, G3 R25; G1 vs G2, PZ0.021; and G2 vs G3, P%0.001), mitotic count (G1 %2, G2 O2-47, G3 O47; G1 vs G2, P%0.001; and G2 vs G3, P%0.001), and presence of necrosis (G1 absent, G2 !10% of sample, G3 O10% of sample; G1 vs G2, P%0.001; and G2 vs G3, P%0