[Lung cancer incidence in the Republic of Belarus].

The paper presents the results of our research in the trends of lung cancer incidence in the Republic of Belarus over 38 years. The number of newly diagnosed cases increased 4-fold in men (1046--1970, 4193--1996; 3710--2007) and doubled in women (277--1970, 555--2007). Lung cancer incidence in men grew significantly in 1970-1996 (28.7 +/- 1.8% per ten thousand and 28.7 +/- 1.8% per ten thousand, respectively) and stabilized later at 72.5 +/- 2.2% per ten thousand. The growth was higher in rural males than in urban residents, aged 60-79 years. A decline has been registered from the late 1990s until now (61.2 +/- 2.0% per ten thousand). A slow growth in standard incidence rates occurred in women (1970-1987). Actually, they have not changed ever since and are 4.7 +/- 5.6% per ten thousand now.

[The onco-epidemiologic situation in the Republic of Belarus].

The onco-epidemiologic situation in the Republic of Belarus over a 36-year period has been evaluated. An increase in the age-specific and age-adjusted cancer incidence rates is a clear indicator of an actual rise in morbidity. It is unrelated to aging and most probably depends on a number of environmental factors. Due to the similarity of the incidence patterns for a number of sites, it was suggested that a single or several factors might be responsible for neoplastic development. Distinct changes in malignant tumor incidence made it correlated with certain environmental changes and new approaches to primary tumor prevention were developed.

[Effectiveness of radiotherapy of patients with inoperable lung cancer]. / Effektivnost' luchevoi terapii u bol'nykh s nerezektabel'nym rakom legkogo.

Data on 203 patients with locally advanced lung cancer subjected to exploratory thoracotomy were studied: the 1st group--68 patients received symptomatic therapy only, the 2nd group--71 patients received a palliative course of radiotherapy, and the 3rd group--64 patients were on radiotherapy after a radical program. Radiotherapy in the 3rd group was performed after a split course using staged change of dose fractionation regimens. The use of the palliative radiotherapy course brought about a subjective effect in 39.0 5% of the patients but had no effect upon their survival. Radiotherapy after a radical program resulted in a subjective effect in 82.8 +/- 5.2% of patients and objective improvement in 56.3 6%. The mean survival time of the patients in the 3rd group was twice as much as compared to the patients in the 1st group, being 13.8 mos. versus 6 mos. In the 3rd group 15.4 +/- 7.2% of the patients lived over 3 yrs. Whereas none of the patients in the 1st and 2nd groups had survived by that time. Better results were obtained in the group of patients with epidermoid lung cancer.