[Histology, cytology and molecular diagnostics of lung cancer]

Traditionally, tissue-based histopathological approaches play an outstanding role in the diagnostics of lung cancer. The importance of these methods has become even more important with the introduction of individualized treatment options. Lung cancer is basically classified following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines using conventional histology and immunohistochemistry. For individual entities in certain clinical stages, the evaluation of the tumor biological profile serves as the basis for the so-called individualized treatment or precision medicine where changes in the intracellular signal transduction mechanisms are the target of therapeutic efforts or the therapy tries to re-initiate immunogenic reactions of the autologous immune system against the tumor cells. The histopathologic overexpression of receptors as well as various genetic and epigenetic changes (e.g. inversion, translocation and methylation) are the key players for predictive approaches to uncover the individual tumor biology and to make treatment decisions.