Background: The aim of the study was to determine a prognostic value of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) ratios for survival of patients, operated on due to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: The study was conducted on 532 patients, operated on due to NSCLC, in stages IA-IIIA. A total of 174 females and 358 males, aged 36-84 years (the mean age: 63.6 years) were included in the study. The following factors were subject to a statistical analysis, conducted for determination of potential prognostic values of NLR, PLR and LMR ratios: age, sex, nicotinism, the number of leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, platelets, histopathological diagnosis, T category, N category, the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), kind of surgery, patient survival. Results: The single-factor analysis revealed a relationship between NLR, PLR and LMR values, CCI values, the number of monocytes and the length of survival. The multi-factor analysis confirmed that for patients with expected 2-year survival, PLR above 138 (P=0.0008) is another negative prognostic factor, apart from the stage of the neoplastic disease and CCI above 4. For 5-year survival, such a relationship was not observed. Conclusions: The PLR ratio is an independent and significant prognostic factor for expected, over 2-year survival of patients operated on due to NSCLC.

the ABCB1 gene belongs to Atp binding cassette (ABc) transporter genes that has been previously implicated in cancer progression and drug response. this study aimed to evaluate the association between the SNP 3435 and the expression of the ABCB1 gene in lung cancer patients in the polish population in comparison to clinicopathological parameters and treatment. 150 RNA and 47 DNA samples were isolated from 49 lung cancer cases including both tissue samples and blood taken from the same patients at three time points: diagnosis, 100 days and one year after the surgical intervention. Qualitative and real-time pcR analysis of expression were done, also genotyping by PCR-RFLP. Mutant homozygous TT and allele T are present statistically significantly more frequently in the group of patients with lung cancer. There is no difference with expression level in lung cancer tissue and blood sample taken from the same patients before surgical treatment. on the basis of blood samples analysis it was observed that the expression level of ABCB1 mRnA was growing in time. Higher levels were marked after 100 days and one year after the surgical intervention. The complementary pharmacological treatment induced higher expression levels of ABCB1. the presented data suggest an important role of ABCB1 in lung cancer, the increasing level of ABCB1 mRnA which can be connected with induction of multidrug resistance mechanism is also significant, that observation must be confirmed in further analysis.

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is a miniinvasive technique commonly applied worldwide. Indications for VATS are very broad and include the diagnosis of mediastinal, lung and pleural diseases, as well as large resection procedures such as pneumonectomy. The most frequent complication is prolonged postoperative air leak. The other significant complications are bleeding, infections, postoperative pain and recurrence at the port site. Different complications of VATS procedures can occur with variable frequency in various diseases. Despite the large number of their types, such complications are rare and can be avoided through the proper selection of patients and an appropriate surgical technique.