[Lung cancer at a Chilean public hospital]

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death.

Aim: To describe the clinical, staging and survival characteristics of lung cancer in a public Chilean regional hospital.

Material and methods: Analysis of a prospective database of a thoracic surgery service, retrieving histologically confirmed lung cancer cases from January 2010 to December 2019 and reviewing their medical records. Cases were re-staged by the TNM-8 system and variables were compared between periods 2010-2014 and 2015-2019.

Results: We retrieved 551 lung cancer cases, 333 (60 %) men, with a mean age of 65 years. Distant metastases were found in 72% of cases (excluding lymphatic metastases). Of the non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), 50 (10%) cases were in stage I, 18 (4%) in stage II, 81 (16%) in stage III and 347 (70%) in stage IV. Global five-year survival was 18%, 20% for NSCLC, 71% for excised NSCLC, 8% for non-excised NSCLC, 88% for stage I and 92% for subgroup IA. Resective surgery was performed in 81 (14%) cases. When comparing 2010-2014 and 2015-2019 periods, the frequency of resective surgery increased from 7% to 20%.

Conclusions: The diagnosis of lung cancer was frequently made in advanced stages. There was a significant increase in early diagnosis and frequency of surgeries with curative intent in the second observation period.