Prognostic impact of EGFR amplification and visceral pleural invasion in early-stage pulmonary squamous cell carcinomas patients after surgical resection of primary tumor

In this study, we retrospectively analyzed surgical specimens from 48 consecutive patients diagnosed with pulmonary SCC between 1999 and 2010. Those clinic-pathological features and chromosomal regions that were found to have a significant influence on the prognosis of the disease were extended to the study with 108 patients (105 males and 3 females; with a median age of 66 years, ranging from 27 to 83 years). Every patient provided their informed consent before the beginning of this study. All subjects underwent a surgical resection of primary tumor in our institution, and they were diagnosed and classified according to the WHO criteria [18,19], prior to any treatment. According to the tumor stage, 85 cases were classified as early stages (pT1–pT2 tumors) and 23 as late stages (pT3–pT4 tumors). We completely confirmed the histopathological features and grade in a second evaluation that was conducted by an expert and independent pathologist. The study closed with a median follow-up time of 47 months (range: 26–58 months). The study was authorized by the local ethics committee of the University Hospital of Salamanca (Salamanca, Spain) and we also previously obtained the informed consent of each patient under stud.