Profile of lung cancer in Kashmir, India: a five-year study.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To study the clinico-pathological aspects of lung cancer, and the outcome of various treatment modalities. METHODS: A retrospective review of histopathologically confirmed lung cancer patients who were registered and treated at our institution over a period of five years was carried out. RESULTS: A total of 321 patients were studied. There was a preponderance of males (91.9%) as compared to females (8.1%). Smoking history was present in 88% of the male patients. Cough was the main presenting feature in 71.6% of patients. Diagnosis was established by bronchoscopy in 94% of cases. Squamous cell carcinoma was observed in 77.3%, while 17.1% had small cell carcinoma. Radiotherapy formed the main treatment modality alone (22.4%) and in combination (27%). Out of the 321 patients, 206 were evaluable on follow-up. Local failure and distant metastasis were seen in 9.2% and 19.9% of cases, respectively. The overall survival rate of 2, 3 and 5 years was 19.9%, 13.59% and 6.79%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:. The outcome of lung cancer is poor. Increased survival is possible if the disease is detected early, treated adequately with multi modality approach.