ABSTRACT
With 169 500 new cases per year in the United States and 182 000 new cases per year in Europe, lung cancer is the most common worldwide diagnosed cancer and the major cause of mortality, 1 with157 400 cancer deaths 2 in the USA and 190 000 cancer deaths in the European Union in 2001. Although cancer incidence began to decline in men in the USA from 1980, 3 its rate is increasing in women, 2 as a consequence of the increasing proportion of women who smoke.
