ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND ETIOLOGY Lung cancer is easily the commonest malignancy in the western world-a fact made more poignant since it is one of the most recent and preventable of all cancers. The rise in incidence of the tumor this century is really remarkable. In a major monograph on thoracic pathology in 1912, Adler says, “On one point, however, there is nearly complete consensus of opinion, and that is that primary malignant neoplasms of the lungs are amongst the rarest forms of disease.” Contrast this with the current incidence rates in western countries (about 110 per 100,000 for men and 30 per 100,000 for women) and the extent of the epidemic becomes clear.
