Bronchiogenic Carcinoma Masquerading as Other Diseases

A Review of 200 Cases

1) Deaths from lung cancer represent about 10 per cent of all cancer deaths, placing cancer of the respiratory tract second only to cancer of the intestinal tract.

2) Delayed diagnosis reduced the operability rate of this series of 200 patients to 20 per cent. Forty-three and five tenths per cent of these patients were inoperable on clinical examination alone and another 32.5 per cent were inoperable on exploration.

3) Presenting symptoms referred to the abdomen and extremities represented the most frequent extrapulmonary disguises to delay diagnosis. Virus pneumonia, lung abscess, tuberculomas and mediastinal tumors represented the most frequent intrathoracic disguises.

4) Positive bronchoscopic biopsies were obtained in only 45 per cent of these patients, indicating the necessity for early exploration of suspicious lesions even without the preoperative confirmation of laboratory tests.

5) Resection of 35 solitary peripheral lung nodules proved 67 per cent to be some type of primary neoplasm.