[Bronchial carcinoma at the Zadar Medical Center 1982-1986]

In the period between 1982-1986, 2132 neoplasms were registered in the Zadar Medical Center, out of them 164 (7.7%) were primary bronchial carcinomas of which 138 (84.1%) were morphologically verified. The difference between the number of the registered and verified bronchial carcinomas is due to the difference in the registration criteria. The annual average incidence rate of the verified carcinomas was about 30 which is lower than in the Zagreb area and Croatia as a whole. The average number of cases diagnosed in other institutions was about 20 percent. An analysis by sex revealed a prevalence among males aged 55-75. Morphologically, the most common type of carcinoma was planocellular, followed by anaplastic, small cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The greatest majority of the positive findings was obtained by bronchoscopy and sputum examination. The average number of sputa obtained per patient was 3.5; 63 percent of these were adequate and 40 percent of them were positive. In 86% of cases the diagnosis was established from the first three sputa. The most frequently used bronchoscopic method of material obtained was aspiration and the best diagnostic results were obtained by puncture biopsy and excision. The high percentage of positive results obtained by transtracheal biopsy justifies its use.