Analysis of fibrobronchoscopy for 623 elderly patients with lung cancer

Objective: To study the pathologic characteristics and the features of fibrobronchoscopy in elderly patients with lung cancer. Methods: The fibrobronchoscopic data of 623 lung cancer patients (60~86 years old) from July 1981 to October 2002 were analysed retrospectively. Results: The male: female ratio was 5.77∶1. The most common histologic type was squamous cell carcinoma (83.7%), then small cell carcinoma (8.8%) and adenocarcinoma (7.5%) in 399 patients proven lung cancer with histologically via fibrobronchoscopy. The diagnosis was made in 72.7% case with cytology in smear of brush cell and 67.4% with biopsy in the 623 cases. There were 79.8% case having direct sign and 20.2% case having indirect sign in the 623 cases. 58.7% were right lung cancer, and the most common place was in the double upper lobes. The chest radiographs showed basically mass (57.4%), flakiness (18.8%), and atelectasis ( 17.7%) respectively. Conclusions: The direct sign in lung cancer by bronchoscopy is most common in elderly patients. The most common histologic type is squamous cell carcinoma. The combination of fibrobronchoscopy and the chest radiographs is helpful to early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer in the elderly.