The peripheral lymphocyte count as an aid in the clinical staging of lung cancer.

The association between disease staging and peripheral lymphocyte count (PLC) was studied in 178 patients with histologically verified lung cancer. Mean PLC varied inversely with the stage of disease (p less than .01). The mean values were 2821, 2217, and 1594 for Stages I, II and III respectively. Thoretical normal distributions were generated about the mean peripheral lymphocyte count for each stage. Relative frequencies of lung cancer staging based on the PLC are estimated utilizing these curves.