Lung cancer, accounting for 21% of all newly diagnosed cancer and 30% of all cancer deaths, is the most common cancer in Hong Kong. In 1994, 3772 new cases were diagnosed and 2968 patients died from the disease. The age standardized incidence rate of lung cancer in Hong Kong is ranked as the highest among the developed countries in Asia. Cigarette smoking, the major cause of lung cancer, is still on the rise in Hong Kong and Asia and we anticipate the incidence of lung cancer to remain high.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for about 80% of all lung cancers. The only curative treatment is complete surgical resection. Unfortunately this group accounts for less than 15% of cases. For the remainder the outcome is poor. Salvage chemotherapy may improve disease-related symptoms but leads to only a small improvement in overall survival. Patients with stage III disease are considered inoperable, but combined modality therapy may improve both survival and quality of life. Stage I and II NSCLC are potentially curable by surgery and the value of adjuvant chemotherapy remains debatable. For small cell lung cancer, chemotherapy is the treatment of choice. Despite the good response rate, long-term survival is unusual. New drug combinations have been the primary focus of clinical research over the past decade. Our unit is active in clinical research on lung cancer that ranges from translational to phase III study.