Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 154, No. 2, 08 1996, 519-522.
Lung cancer in patients with bullous disease
JJ Zulueta, SM Bloom, MI Rozansky and AC White
Department of Medicine, New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
There have been sporadic reports in the literature of an association
between bullous disease of the lung and lung cancer; however, we believe
that this clinical association is not well recognized. We present six cases
in which bullous disease of the lung and lung cancer coexisted, and review
the available literature on the topic. Five of the patients were males, the
mean age of presentation was 42 yr (range: 32 to 62 yr), and all of the
patients were smokers. Histologically the tumors in all six patients were
non-small-cell carcinomas. The significantly younger age of these patients
with lung cancer and bullous disease as compared with those reported in the
literature with lung cancer but without bullous disease suggests that the
association between these two processes is more than just coincidental. The
utility of plain radiography and computerized tomography (CT) of the chest
in screening patients with bullous disease for lung cancer is discussed.
