The 2011 IASLC/ATS/ERS pulmonary adenocarcinoma classification: a landmark in personalized medicine for lung cancer management

In the past few decades, the incidence of lung adenocarcinoma has been increasing rapidly worldwide. Adenocarcinoma has become the most common histological type of lung cancer, and approximately a half of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with adenocarcinoma type at present (1). Meanwhile, a great progress in oncology, surgery, radiology, and molecular biology has significantly improved the understanding of lung adenocarcinoma (2-9). Therefore, the 2004 WHO lung adenocarcinoma classification cannot perfectly guide current clinical practice