ABSTRACT
The incidence of Lung cancer is increasing rapidly throughout developing countries. Lung cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in men and the fifth in women. To study the demographical and pathological profile of lung cancer among sample of Iraqi patients. A retrospective descriptive study depending on review of records of diagnosed patients during 2006 - 2008.This study was conducted at the Baghdad teaching hospital, Baghdad-Iraq, during a period from 1[st] March 2012 to 1[st] January 2013. A total of 284 patients' records all with proven lung cancer were selected retrospectively, reviewed and checked. There were 284 patients recruited in this study, the overall mean age was [62.1 +/- 12.8] years and range was [18 - 100] years. Smokers were 232 [81.7%], Non-smokers were 32 [11.3 %] and Ex-smokers were 20 [7%]. All cases had cough, almost [93%] chest pain, [88.4%] presented with shortness of breath. Regarding the types of carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma was present in 112 patients [39.4%], adenocarcinoma in 96 patients [33.8%], small cell carcinoma in 41 patients [14.5%], while large cell carcinoma in 31 patients [10.9%], and undifferentiated carcinoma was present in 4 patients [1.5%]. Regarding treatment for lung cancer among study groups, it had been noticed that 166 patients [58.5%] were subjected to chemotherapy, 115 patients [40.4%] were subjected to radiotherapy and only 3 patients [1.1%] were treated surgically. Lung cancer is more common among males and more frequent among those aged 50 years or more. The study demostrate that Sequamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of primary lung cancer in Iraqi patients [39.4%], adenocarcinoma is the second common type [33.8%]. The five year survival was very low, only [0.4%] survive for five years after diagnosis, the majority of cases died within two years