Objective To explore the distribution of histological types and pathological stages of lung cancer patients operated in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital.Methods Data of patients with lung cancer who received surgical resection in thoracic surgery department of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from 1992 to 2011 were collected.Chi-square with the level of significance P ＜ 0.05 and chi-square test for trends were used as statistical methods.Results A number of 12 117 patients received surgical resection.Adenocarcinoma had become the most frequent histologic type among males and females combined,increased from 30.43％ in 1992 to 48.78％ in 2011,and squamous cell cancer decreased from 57.45％ to 32.18％.Squamous cell cancer was the most frequent histologic type in males but decreased from 62.93％ in 1992 to 44.78％ in 2011,followed by adenocarcinoma (increased from 24.71％ to 34.44％).Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histologic type in females and increased from 53.97％ in 1992 to 79.00％ in 2011,followed by squamous cell cancer (decreased from 34.92％ to 5.6％).Adenocarcinoma and squamous cell cancer were the most frequent histologic type in patients from Shanghai and from aroud Shanghai separately.Patients with stage Ⅰ NSCLC had increased from 34.91％ in 1992 to 53.25％ in 2011.Conclusion The number of lung caner operated patients has increased quickly.The distribution of the histologic types and pathological stages of lung cancer operated patients has changed apparently.