Evaluation of lung cancer patterns and bronchoscopic presentations in patients admitted to Abbasia Chest Hospital

Abstract

Abstract Background Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, accounting for more cancer-related deaths compared with colon, breast, and prostate combined. Aim The aim of this work is to detect the predominant bronchoscopic presentations and anatomical sites for all histopathological types of lung cancer. Patients and methods This study was conducted prospectively in the bronchoscopy units in Abbasia Chest Hospital. It included 132 patients suspected clinically and radiologically to have lung cancer and admitted to the hospital during the period from July 2016 to March 2017. Of them, 81 patients were pathologically diagnosed as having primary lung cancer. Statistical analysis χ2 test was used to examine the relationship between the two qualitative variables. Student’s t test was used to assess the statistical significance of the difference between the two study group means. McNamara test was used assess the statistical significance of the difference between a qualitative variable measured twice for the same study group. Results A total of 81 patients (73 males and eight females) with primary lung cancer were included in the study; most of them were in the sixth decade of life. The main anatomical sites of bronchogenic carcinoma were main bronchi and lower lobe bronchi equally (24% each), followed by lower lobe bronchi (20%). Most common macroscopic bronchoscopic presentations of bronchogenic carcinoma were end bronchial lesion (46.91%) followed by external compression (12.35%) and then mucosal infiltration and external compression (9.88%). Conclusion Persistent pulmonary complaints like productive cough, dyspnea, chest pain, and hemoptysis should be investigated immediately. Proper screening and early diagnostic methods should be applied on a large scale to find out suspected patients who at risk to develop lung cancer.