AB 95. Changing pattern of lung cancer

Lung cancer is not any more on the first place regarding incidence in some countries among malignant diseases, but is still the leading cause of death. Also, it is notable that incidence of lung cancer among men in some West European and Scandinavian countries is decreasing. Unfortunately, in other countries, especially in Southeast European countries, age-adjusted rate for men is still increasing, or at least, has been reached a plateau. Even worse situation is among female in this region, with constant incidence increase. The proportion of adenocarcinoma has been increasing over time.

In Vojvodina, the northern part of Serbia, all of this mentioned changes has been noticed: adenocarcinoma is leading type of lung cancer nowdays, overcoming squamous cell carcinoma also among men, number of lung cancer among female is increasing, reaching the rate men to women 2.7:1, the number of nonsmokers is slightly increasing among male patients with adenocarcinoma, and notable among female patients with adenocarcinoma.

Despite improvement in both the diagnosis and treatment, the overall survival for lung cancer patients hardly improved over time. The introduction of personalized and targeted treatment showed some modest results giving a hope that this way of treatment could bring better results in future. In conclusion: it could be emphasized that the epidemic of lung cancer is not over yet, especially in southern and eastern Europe. Rates of all lung cancer types among women and adenocarcinoma among men continue to rise. The number of nonsmokers among patients with adenocarcinoma continue to increase.