Fiber-optic bronchoscope and detection of lung cancer: A five year study

White light bronchoscopy [WLB] has been used for identification and localization of intra-epithelial pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions within the bronchus. Aim of the study was to evaluate the uses of WLB to detect and localize the precancerous and cancerous lesions, and in addition to analyze morphologic presentation, and association to histological type and the variation between genders. A total of 4983 patients were examined by WLB from 2004 to 2009 in a local tertiary teaching hospital. The following parameters were collected: morphological presentation, biopsy sites, histology. The patients' records of age, sex, smoking status, blood-gas, X-RAY/CT, CBC, ECG, PT, and APTT were obtained for analysis. Differences between the patients groups were analyzed using Chi square test. 1489 patients who had hyperplasia or neoplasic lesions were further confirmed as having lung cancer pathologically. Lung cancer was more commonly found in the right lung (51.58% vs 42.82%). The upper lobe was more frequently found to have lesions (44.17% vs 22.42%) than the lower lobe. Male patients with squamous cell carcinoma showed more commonly upper lobe involvement, while left main bronchus was more commonly involved in female patients. Adenocarcinoma was mostly involved in lesions of the upper lobe. Proliferative type was found in 80.15% of squamous cell carcinoma cases and in 76.16 % of small cell carcinoma cases. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy is an effective method for the detection of preinvasive neoplasic lesions. The morphological presentation is associated to histological type. There is variation in presentation and histology of cancerous lung lesion between the genders.