The evolution of the clinical presentation, endoscopy and radiology in a consecutive series of 121 cases of primary bronchial adenocarcinoma has been studied in a retrospective manner over a period of 11 years. The mean age was 60 +/- 12 and 16.5% of the patients were women. The frequency of smoking and the quantity smoked in packed years was significantly higher in men than in women. The frequency of the presenting signs and the endoscopic features did not change over the period. On the other hand, the peripheral and mediastinal-hilar forms were more frequent from 1990 in a significant manner so that the hilar form became rarer. The result seems to confirm an increase in the frequency of a new radio-clinical expression of primary bronchial adenocarcinoma. These mediastinal-hilar adenocarcinomas do not have specific characteristics but are associated with a higher mortality.