Abstract

This study has been conducted to evaluate symptoms, radiological and endoscopic findings of patients with lung cancer. Information was collected retrospectively through hospital database during 1991-2002. 338 unselected patients with lung cancer were included. Cough was the prominent symptom present in 64.1% of cases. Chest painwas present in 41.3% of the patients. Chest X-Ray was abnormal in 97.6% of the patients. Chest X-Ray revealed central mass present in 47.1% of the patients and peripheral mass present only in 18.7%. Thorax computerized tomography (CT) was abnormal in 99.4% of the patients, whereas it was normal in only 2 (0.6%). It revealed central mass in 69.5% of the patients. Peripheral mass was only present in 28.1%. The fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) was normal in 9.8% of the patients. The main pathological findings of FOB were submucosal lesion in 31.3%, and endobronchial lesions in 50.8% of the patients. 54.1% of the patients bearing central mass in CT also had endobronchial lesions in FOB. However, 17% of the patients bearing peripheral mass in CT had normal FOB. The majority of endobronchial or submucosal masses in FOB appeared as central masses in CT. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most prominent type of tumor among the patients. Endobronchial lesions in FOB and central lesions in CT were common findings in all tumor types. As a consequence, three main tumor types including adenocarcinoma presents with similar FOB and CT findings which are mainly central rather than peripheral.