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INTRODUCTION: There is a current lack of epidemiological data regarding lung cancer in Greece. The aim of this study was to record and analyze pertinent data regarding demographic, clinical, radiological, bronchoscopic and histological findings in lung cancer cases over a ten-year period collected from a hospital in Central Greece, and to investigate potential specific features of lung cancer in Greek patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. The data collected were obtained from newly diagnosed lung cancer patients with fiberoptic bronchoscopy during a ten-year period (2009-2018). From the database, we have extracted the demographic data, the tumor location based on the computed tomography (CT) scans, bronchoscopy report with associated images and the histopathology/cytology reports that yielded the diagnosis. RESULTS: A total number of 637 patients were diagnosed with primary lung cancer during the decade 2009-2018 from the authors in a major tertiary hospital in Athens, Greece. Most of the patients were aged 50-69 years (57.6%) and the majority were men (77.1%) and active smokers (74.1%). The most common histological type was adenocarcinoma (31.7%). In the majority of cases, the patients presented initially at advanced stages. At the time of diagnosis, the most common finding was a lung mass or nodule in computed tomography and an endobronchial mass in fiberoptic bronchoscopy. The patients' lesions were detected most frequently in the upper lobes. CONCLUSIONS: The results show a trend in ADLC histology, an increase in the proportion of women with lung cancer and highlight the significant percentage of patients diagnosed in advanced stages. This reflects the need for effective tobacco control strategies to reduce the incidence of lung cancer and a comprehensive national screening program for the purposes of early detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is increasing in the western world, being currently on of the leading causes of mortality. Surgical resection provides best chances of cure but, unfortunately, less than 20% of the patients are eligible for curative intent surgery at the time of diagnosis. Chemotherapeutic agents such as FOLFIRINOX have been used in patients with metastatic or locally advanced disease showing survival benefit., Methods: In this pilot study, we present an early initial experience with neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX as first line therapy for locally advanced and non resectable PDAC highlighting the toxicity and complete resection rates as well as overall survival., Results: Roughly every patient experienced toxicity according to ECOG criteria with a median recorded event up to 6, most of them grade I and grade II. One third of the patients had downsizing of tumor, however only 43.3% of them ended up having resectable disease. A R0 resection was achieved in 10 of the patients (76.9%). Median follow up for the entire study was 14 months. Fourteen patients (46.6%) had stable disease and 7 (23.3%) had tumor-related death. Approximately 30% of the patients were in remission by the end of follow up. Considering the above results patients that had good response to FOLFIRINOX and underwent R0 surgical treatment had increased their median survival to 30 months compared to those who did not have oncological tumor resection (13 months)., Conclusions: FOLFIRINOX is an effective treatment regimen that manages to convert unresectable -at diagnosis PDAC- to resectable with increased survival. However, due to high toxicity, treatment is only feasible in selected patients and requires close monitoring.