Proposal of a grading system for squamous cell carcinoma of the lung — the prognostic importance of tumour budding, single cell invasion, and nuclear diameter

The prognostic markers of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) are less investigated. The aim of our study was to evaluate tumour budding (TB), minimal cell nest size, nuclear diameter (ND), and spread through air spaces (STAS) among patients with resected LSCC, semi-quantitatively. Furthermore, we aimed to identify a grading system for the best prognostic stratification of LSCC. Patients who underwent surgical resection at the Department of Surgery, University of Szeged between 2010 and 2016 were included. Follow-up data were collected from medical charts. Morphological characteristics were recorded from histologic revision of slides. Kaplan-Meier analysis, log rank test and Cox proportional-hazards model, ROC curve analysis, and intraclass correlation were utilised. Altogether 220 patients were included. In univariate analysis, higher degree of TB, infiltrative tumour border, larger ND, the presence of single cell invasion (SCI) and STAS were associated with adverse prognosis. Based on our results, we proposed an easily applicable grading scheme focusing on TB, ND, and SCI. In multivariate analysis, the proposed grading system (p(OS )< 0.001, p(RFS )< 0.001) and STAS (p(OS )= 0.008, p(RFS )< 0.001) were independent prognosticators. Compared to the previously introduced grading systems, ROC curve analysis revealed that the proposed grade had the highest AUC values (AUC(OS): 0.83, AUC(RFS): 0.78). Each category of the proposed grading system has good (ICC: 0.79–0.88) reproducibility. We validated the prognostic impact of TB, SCI, ND, and STAS in LSCC. We recommend a reproducible grading system combining TB, SCI, and ND for proper prognostic stratification of LSCC patients. Further research is required for validation of this grading scheme. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00428-023-03612-8.