title: Profile of lung cancer in Kashmir, India: a five-year study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the clinico-pathological aspects of lung cancer, and the outcome of various treatment modalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of histopathologically confirmed lung cancer patients who were registered and treated at our institution over a period of five years was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 321 patients were studied. There was a preponderance of males (91.9%) as compared to females (8.1%). Smoking history was present in 88% of the male patients. Cough was the main presenting feature in 71.6% of patients. Diagnosis was established by bronchoscopy in 94% of cases. Squamous cell carcinoma was observed in 77.3%, while 17.1% had small cell carcinoma. Radiotherapy formed the main treatment modality alone (22.4%) and in combination (27%). Out of the 321 patients, 206 were evaluable on follow-up. Local failure and distant metastasis were seen in 9.2% and 19.9% of cases, respectively. The overall survival rate of 2, 3 and 5 years was 19.9%, 13.59% and 6.79%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  . The outcome of lung cancer is poor. Increased survival is possible if the disease is detected early, treated adequately with multi modality approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, India. drnazirkhan@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Afroz
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lone
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Teli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muzaffar
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003710:Demography; D004358:Drug Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011878:Radiotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome