Comorbidities in lung cancer.

Agata Dutkowska,Adam Antczak

doi:10.5603/piap.2016.0022

Abstract

Comorbidity is the occurrence of concomitant disease in addition to an index disease of interest or the simultaneous occurrence of multiple diseases in an individual. Lung cancer is associated with age and smoking, and both age and smoking are strongly associated with comorbidity. Lung cancer is the most common malignancy in the world. Comorbidity, such as diseases of cardiovascular, pulmonary and other systems may influence prognosis in lung cancer as well as complicate its treatment. In this paper we tried to conclude the significance of the individual comorbidities in lung cancer and their impact on particular treatment method.

Highlights

Cancer patients have been staged by the size of their tumor while how sick they are because of the tumor and other medical conditions was neglected
The present system of cancer classification does not consider the important patient-based prognostic factors, such as the general health of the patient, defined as the number and pathophysiological severity of coexisting diseases, illnesses, or conditions [1]. These conditions and diseases, which exist before cancer diagnosis and are not adverse effects of cancer treatment, are generally referred to as comorbidities [2]
A recent review concerning surgical treatment of lung cancer patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suggests milder criteria for surgical resection with curative intent, because limited surgical resections or nonsurgical therapeutic options might provide inferior survival compared with resection complications risk [31]

Summary

Introduction

Cancer patients have been staged by the size of their tumor while how sick they are because of the tumor and other medical conditions was neglected. Comorbidity, such as diseases of the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and other systems may influence prognosis in lung cancer as well as complicate its treatment [11]. Several diseases such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes mellitus (DM) are considered to have a significant influence on the survival of cancer patients and overall lung cancer population [11, 13, 18].

Objectives

Results

Conclusion