[New clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer contain important advancements. It is necessary therefore that these novelties are widely known by health care professionals. With an existing X-ray screening network in Hungary, we have a unique chance to discover lung malignancies in an early stage in the population. Annual screening is recommended in risk groups over 40 years of age using a nation wide established digital screening network technology. In the therapy of small cell lung cancer there has been no major advance in the past ten years. However, by today, the number of small cell lung cancer patients represent only about 15% of all lung cancer cases. There have been advancements in other fields of the therapy of non small cell lung cancer. Third generation cytotoxic agents used in a platinum based chemotherapy protocol improved quality of life, response rate and survival time. Radiochemotherapy used in locally advanced stages also represented a step forward. In early stage of non small cell lung cancer it has been revealed that significantly improved survival time can be reached with adjuvant combined cytotoxic chemotherapy. Based on these results adjuvant chemotherapy became part of the therapeutic protocol. The use of molecular targeted chemotherapy in the clinical practice of non small cell lung cancer treatment is also a novelty. New therapeutic approaches are epidermal growth factor inhibitors, angiogenesis inhibitors, antivascular, signal transduction modifiers, apoptosis inducing, eicosanoid signal transduction modifiers and immunotherapeutic drugs. Placebo controlled trials have proved the effectiveness of the epidermal growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib in the second and third line therapy of non small cell lung cancer and can be administered in the European Union in this indication. The improvement in the complex care of lung cancer patients in Hungary is characterized by the gradual increase in the prevalence data, meaning the gradual increase of the number of lung cancer patients still alive.]

[INTRODUCTION - Potential risk factors leading to the development of squamous cell carcinoma in the oesophagus have been analyzed and summarized in a number of epidemiological studies. Authors disagree as to the pathogenic significance of the individual risk factors in various populations. However, it is commonly accepted that alcohol abuse and smoking play a significant role in the development of this disease. Several reports have suggested a positive relationship between oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and the consumption of hot food and drink. A recent publication, however, claims that the consumption of hot drink is not a pathogenic factor in itself. In our study we wished either to confirm or to rule out a positive relationship between the development of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma and the history of consuming hot food or drink. PATIENTS AND METHODS - During the study period (1 January, 1993 - 31 September, 2004) 449 patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma were examined in our endoscopy laboratory. Histories were taken according to a predefined scheme. The aim was to identify patients with a history of consuming hot food or drink and to determine their percentage within the study population. A group of 738 patients examined endoscopically for indications other than oesophageal cancer served as controls. RESULTS - In the control group a significantly higher proportion of patients tended to consume hot food or drink compared to patients with cancer. Among the patients with oesophageal tumour who consumed hot food or drink a higher proportion was addicted to smoking and alcohol compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS - In our study population we failed to identify a positive relationship between the development of squamous cell carcinoma in the oesophagus and the habit of consuming hot food or drink. We suggest that consumption of hot food or drink may play some role in the development of oesophageal cancer if it is associated with simultaneous smoking and alcohol consumption.]