Diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer

Bronchopulmonary cancer is the leading cancer in men. Diagnostic and therapeutic advances have been considerable in recent years. The aim of our work is to compare the management of 3 groups of patients with bronchopulmonary cancer in a pneumology department over 20 years. In 1991, 43 patients with PBC were managed, versus 57 in 2001, and 90 in 2010. The mean age was 60 years for all three groups. The majority of the patients were smokers.The consultation times were very long (85, 96, and 99 days respectively).The mean time to diagnosis was 31 days, with no downward trend.The percentage of adenocarcinomas increased during these 2 decades.Patients were most often diagnosed at locally advanced and metastatic stages.Few changes in diagnostic and therapeutic management have been recorded during these two decades, highlighting the efforts that still need to be made to improve diagnosis and prognosis.