Histopathological Pattern of Respiratory Diseases among Patients attending a Tertiary Care Centre in Western Saudi Arabia from January 2000 - December 2010

Objective: To determine the histopathological pattern of respiratory diseases based on age and gender at a tertiary care center in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of all histopathologically diagnosed cases of respiratory diseases in the period between January 2000 and December 2010 through a computerized database search of the Anatomic Pathology archives. Results: Out of the 378 case studies, the most common histologically diagnosed respiratory diseases were pulmonary tumors 118 (31.2%), followed by pulmonary infections 32 (8.4%), obstructive lung diseases 22 (5.8%), restrictive lung disease 16 (4.2%), congenital pulmonary airway malformation 16 (4.2%) and diseases of vascular origin 4 (1%).The percentage of insufficient biopsies was 3.9% (15 cases); 57 cases (15.07%) showed no pathological diagnosis on histological examination. Out of the 111 malignant tumors, 98 (88.2%) were primary and 13 (11.71%) were secondary pulmonary tumors. The most common respiratory disease in the age group of 0-19 years was pulmonary congenital diseases (11 cases), in the group of 20-39 was miscellaneous (43 cases), while pulmonary tumors was the most common respiratory disease identified histopathologically in the age groups of 40-59-years-old (33 cases) and older than 60 years (75 cases). Conclusion:  Lung tumors are the most common form of histopathologically diagnosed respiratory diseases followed by pulmonary infections, especially tuberculosis.