Lung cancer is a large and exceptionally heterogeneous family of malignancies. Over 50 different histological variants are explicitly recognized within the 2004 revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) typing system ("WHO-2004"), currently the most widely used lung cancer classification scheme. Many recognized lung cancer variants are rare, recently described and poorly understood. However, since different forms of malignant tumors generally exhibit diverse genetic, biological and clinical properties, including response to treatment, accurate classification of lung cancer cases are critical to ensuring that patients with lung cancer receive optimum management.
Basaloid large cell carcinoma of the lung
Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the lung
Mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the lung
Salivary gland–like carcinoma of the lung
Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung
Basaloid squamous cell lung carcinoma
Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung
Giant-cell carcinoma of the lung