Evaluation of response to chemotherapy with fiberoptic bronchoscopy in lung cancers

Abstract

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) is a very important parameter to evaluate the tumor response to chemotherapy in patients with lung carcinoma.

In our clinic we perform diagnostic FOB before treatment of patients with lung carcinoma and we perform serial FOB after the third and sixth cycle of chemotherapy.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy in different types of lung carcinoma on the basis of bronchoscopic findings.

During two years (2014 i 2015) we evaluated 100 patients with lung cancer. 42 had adenocarcinoma, 39 had squamous cell carcinoma and 19 had small-cell lung cancer. Among the patients with small-cell lung cancer there was a significant endoscopic regression after the third chemotherapy cycle in 90% of the cases and after the sixth chemotherapy cycle in over 60% of the cases. Among the patients with adenocarcinoma there was a significant endoscopic regression after the third chemotherapy cycle in over 70% of the cases and after the sixth chemotherapy cycle in 50% of the cases. Among the patients with squamous cell carcinoma there was a significant endoscopic regression after the third chemotherapy cycle in over 50% of the cases and after the sixth chemotherapy cycle in over 30% of the cases.

It can be concluded that endoscopic regression after chemotherapy correlates best with small-cell lung cancer but there is also significant improvement in the response of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung cancer.