Background : The importance of rapid and accurate cytopathological diagnosis in bronchial cancers is increasing due to advances in treatment modalities. Aims : We evaluated the diagnostic methods and cytologic subtypes of bronchial cancers to determine the diagnostic reliability of different bronchoscopic techniques. Material and methods: Retrospective data were obtained from the hospital files and pathological specimens of the patients with diagnosis of primary lung cancer from a period of 36 months. Cytological tumor typing was determined using histopathology of bronchoscopic forceps biopsy (FB), bronchial-bronchoalveolar lavage (BL), bronchial brushing (BB), transbronchial fine-needle biopsy. Computed tomography or ultrasonography guided transthoracic biopsy and surgical biopsies were used where the other interventional methods were inadequate for diagnosis. Results : A total of 124 patients were diagnosed during study period. 119 (96%) of them were male. The median age was 68, ranging between 36 and 88 years. Histopathologic subtypes were determined as non-small cell carcinoma (NSCC) in 104 (83.9%), squamous cell carcinoma in 64 (51.6%), adenocarcinoma in 16 (12.9%), NSCC not otherwise specified in 24 (19.3%) and small cell carcinoma in 20 (16.1%) patients. The combination of FB, BL and BB established the diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma in most of the cases (92.6%). Conclusions : Lung cancer is seen commonly in elderly male patients with smoking history and squamous cell carcinoma is the most common cytologic type. High diagnostic accuracy can be achieved by a combination of bronchoscopic FB, BB and BL procedures. Keywords: Bronchoscopy; Lung cancer; Bronchial brushing
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