Bronchiectasis with concomitant lung cancer. A report of 7 cases : Chen Y. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Hebei Medical College, Shijiazhwang 050011. Chin J Oncol 1993;15:461–463

Abstract

This article reports 7 cases of bronchiectasis with concomitant lung cancer, accounted for 3.6% of 194 cases of bronchiectasis admitted in the same period. The carcinoma originated from the pulmonary tissue with bronchiectasis in 5 cases, and from the superior segment of lower lobe with bronchiectasis in the basal segment in the other two cases. In 5 cases (71.4%) the tumor was smaller than 3 cm in diameter or only invaded into the submucosa, representing an early stage cancer. On the plain films of the chest only one case revealed a mass suspecting of the presence of carcinoma. Obviously it was hard to make a correct diagnosis in such a situation. In our group, correct preoperative diagnosis was made only in two cases and suspected of concomitant cancer in 3, while in the other two cases a definite diagnosis was obtained postoperatively by histopathological examination. In one of those two cases the lesion was so small that the diagnosis was made after several consecutive pathological examinations. It is emphasized that cytological examination of sputum and bronchoscopy should be performed in every patient. A CT scanning of the chest is of great help to find very small foci. Any massive lesions revealed on the film or CT scanning should be considered as a lung cancer. During operation pulmonary nodules should be also considered as possible cancers. The surgical specimen should be examined thoroughly to avoid missing of any minute cancer foci.