Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnętrznej
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Recently, increased lung cancer morbidity among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been observed. There have been efforts to determine the risk factors for lung cancer in these patients. In our study we analyzed smoking history, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gases and selected laboratory investigations in a group of 46 patients with COPD and primary lung cancer (group I) and compared them to results obtained from 46 randomly selected patients with COPD without lung cancer (group II). ⋯ In 15.2% of the patients pathological diagnosis was not established due to severe general condition and low FEV1. We conclude that coexistence of COPD may be a serious obstacle in the diagnosis and treatment of primary lung cancer. Patients with COPD require evaluation for coexistence of lung cancer.