Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis (TB) in patients with lung cancer may be masked by cancer symptoms; in the Health District of South Granada (HDSG), as part of the TB monitoring programme, samples of bronchial secretions for studies for TB were obtained in all fibre-optic bronchoscopies (FBS) performed for all indications.
The objective was to determine the existence of any association between TB and lung cancer in our area.
METHODS: This was a prospective study of all cases of TB diagnosed in the HDSG between 1st January 2003 and 31st December 2010. Absolute and relative frequencies were calculated for qualitative variables and mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variables. Data analyses was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 19 software.
RESULTS: TB was diagnosed in 319 cases, 272 (85,2%) of which were pulmonary (PTB); the diagnosis was made by FBS in 33 cases. Concomitant TB and lung cancer were diagnosed in 15 cases (5.7% of cases of PTB in patients over 20 years of age). Radiological findings included atelectasis and/or pulmonary infiltrates in 13 cases, cavitated mass and hilar mass associated with milliary pattern in one patient each. Lung cancer stage was III-IV in 9 cases (all died) and I-II in 6 cases, in which both diseases were considered cured.
CONCLUSIONS: The high association between TB and lung cancer found in our sample (4.7% of all cases of TB) compared with other studies (1,9%) suggests that it would be advisable to exclude TB in all cases of lung cancer; this is particularly important in areas with a high prevalence of TB, especially because the same FBS can obtain samples for both pathological and microbiological studies.
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