Abstract
As in other solid tumours, the development and progression of lung cancer is accompanied by a whole number of genome disorders (mutations). These often characteristic disorders represent molecular markers and their investigation has now become an inseparable part of the diagnostic-therapeutic process.
Supplementing the conventional morphology-based histopathological classification with information on the molecular profile is becoming a completely crucial tool for predicting the success rate of anticancer treatment as well as estimating the prognosis of cancer patients. A new trend in modern pathological diagnosis is the method of so-called liquid biopsy, or the investigation of cancer cells and tumour DNA released into the patient's peripheral circulation.