Table 2.
Comparison of WHO criteria evaluated in the paired pre‐operative biopsy and resection specimens of LCNEC
| WHO 2015 criteria | Specimen type | P‐valuea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre‐operative biopsy | Resection | <5 mm versus >5 mm | |||
| Total | <5 mm | ≥5 mm | Total | ||
| Total (n) | 32 | 14 | 18 | 32 | – |
| Mitosis (% scored as in resection specimen) | 72% | 57% | 83% | – | 0.13 |
| ≤10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| >10 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 31 | |
| Not assessable | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Necrosis (% scored as in resection specimen) | 63% | 50% | 72% | – | 0.28 |
| Large zones | 20 | 5 | 15 | 26 | |
| Dotlike (focal necrosis as in AC) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| No necrosis | 10 | 9 | 1 | 2 | |
| Not assessable | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Neuroendocrine morphology (% scored as in resection specimen) | 50% | 29% | 67% | – | 0.04b |
| Not present | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | |
| Present | 15 | 5 | 10 | 31 | |
| Heterogeneous among pathologists | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| Not assessable | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| ≥2/10 large (non‐inconspicuous) nucleoli (% scored as in resection specimen) | 59% | 50% | 67% | – | 0.47 |
| No | 28 | 11 | 17 | 18 | |
| Yes | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | |
| Heterogeneous among pathologists | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Not assessable | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Cytoplasm as in NSCLC (% scored as in resection specimen) | 88% | 93% | 83% | – | 0.61 |
| No | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Yes | 29 | 13 | 16 | 30 | |
| Heterogeneous among pathologists | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Changing within specimen (i.e. yes and no) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Not assessable | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Moulding (% scored as in resection specimen) | 69% | 86% | 55% | – | 0.12 |
| No | 25 | 13 | 12 | 25 | |
| Yes | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Heterogeneous among pathologists | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | |
| Not assessable | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
NSCLC, non‐small cell lung carcinoma, AC, atypical carcinoid; mm, millimeters.
a
Fisher's exact test comparing number of paired and resection specimens identically scored for WHO criteria subcategory.
b
χ2 test comparing number of paired and resection specimens identically scored for WHO criteria subcategory (i.e. neuroendocrine morphology present in both specimens).