Carcinomatous Lung Abscess

Abstract

We compared the roentgenographic, bronchoscopic, and cytopathologic findings from 26 patients with carcinomatous lung abscesses (23 of which were within the tumor) with findings from 31 patients with simple lung abscesses. Despite well-described roentgenographic characteristics of the carcinomatous abscess, differentiation from a simple abscess was frequently not possible. Direct visual findings at the time of bronchoscopy were not helpful in the absence of an endobronchial lesion. Using sputums and cytological specimens from a single fiberoptic bronchoscopy, a diagnosis was made by cytopathology on initial hospitalization in 22 (88%) of 25 patients with carcinoma. No false-positive cytological studies were reported in the nonmalignant group despite the frequent presence of inflammation and infection.

Do Tumor Cavitation and Sex in Resected Stage I Non‐Small‐Cell Lung Cancer Correlate with Prognosis?

“…This supposition gains possible support from findings in a report [14] that tumor‐associated vasculature inhibition by bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor, induced central necrosis and cavity formation in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. There are also other potential mechanisms leading to cavitation, including ecstatic changes or alveolar expansion [7–9, 12, 15]. In our study, there are no statistically significant differences between cavitating and noncavitating groups with regard to tumor size ( P = 0.64); therefore, it appears that cavitation may not be related to tumor size.…”

“…In our study, there are no statistically significant differences between cavitating and noncavitating groups with regard to tumor size (P = 0.64); therefore, it appears that cavitation may not be related to tumor size. Radiologically, a cavity filled with fluid is most often regarded as a lung abscess [15]; however, among patients with lung abscesses, 5-15% of them also have lung cancer [8,9,11,16]. Until now, the relation between tumor cavitation and prognosis in patients with an NSCLC was not clear.…”