Clinicopathological study of bronchogenic carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: The present study was undertaken to explore the clinicopathological profile of bronchogenic carcinoma. METHODOLOGY: Four hundred consecutive patients with histopathologically proven bronchogenic carcinoma, hospitalized between 1985 and 1999 at a large teaching and tertiary care referral hospital at King George's Medical University in Lucknow, India, were analysed. RESULTS: The average age of the bronchogenic carcinoma patients was 57 years; 9.8% of patients were less than 40 years of age; the ratio of male to female patients was 4.3:1.0; 71% were smokers; and 87% of the smoking patients were bidi smokers. The most common histological type was squamous-cell carcinoma (46.5%), followed by adenocarcinoma (18.5%) and small-cell carcinoma (18.2%). The majority of patients (74.2%) were diagnosed in the late stages of the disease (IIIb and IV). CONCLUSION: Bidi smoking is an important contributory factor in the development of bronchogenic carcinoma in India, and approximately 25% of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma are non-smokers.