Frecuencia y patrón cambiante del cáncer pulmonar en México

Abstract

Objective. To assess the frequency, histological type and the epidemiological pattern of lung cancer (LC), during a 40 year period, at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER). Material and methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999. Data were abstracted from the INER’s service reports for 1983-1996 and the surgical pathology archives for 1957-1996. Data from 1961 patients were analyzed, to obtain frequency measures on: the characteristics of INER LC patient admissions, age, sex, histological studies, specimens and diagnoses. Results. Between 1983-1996, LC ranked eighth to second place in INER inpatient admissions. Results were grouped by decades. In the first two decades (1957-1976), 9% of patients were female; 32% in the third (1977-1986), and 38% in the last decade (1987-1996). Epidermoid cell carcinoma was more frequent in the two first decades (61%) and adenocarcinoma in the last two, (41% and 62%, respectively.) Conclusions. LC is currently more frequent in women, and adenocarcinoma is the most frequent neoplasia.