Prognostic value of pre‐treatment lymphocyte count and T cell levels in localized bronchogenic carcinoma

In the patient with clinically localized bronchogenic carcinoma, the pretreatment peripheral blood lymphocyte count and the thymus‐dependent lymphocyte (T cell) level correlated with the prognosis if the tumor histology was either squamous cell, oat cell, or undifferentiated carcinoma. Patients whose pre‐treatment lymphocyte count was less than 1,000/ml or whose T cell level was less than 750/ml either died or developed distant metastases by nine months after treatment of their localized tumor. By contrast, 55% of patients whose pre‐treatment T cell level was greater than 750/ml were alive and without evidence of metastases nine months after treatment (P < 0.02). Analysis of survival of these patients by the life‐table method through the first post‐treatment year further demonstrates the prognostic value of a low pre‐treatment lymphocyte count or T cell level. The pretreatment lymphocyte count and T cell level in patients with adenocarcinoma did not correlate with prognosis.