Predicting survival of patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer: Beyond TNM

We need better risk stratification tools in lung cancer. With an annual worldwide population of 1.6 million individuals diagnosed and 1.4 million killed, lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in humans (2). The overall 5-year survival rate is only about 16%, but this varies from 73% in patients ostensibly with the earliest stage, IA, to 2% in those with stage IV (3).