Hospitalization for Pneumonia Leads to Diagnosis of Lung Cancer in 9%
December 30th, 2009
Researchers from several U.S. medical centers have reported that 9% of patients hospitalized with pneumonia were diagnosed with pulmonary malignancy, but the median time from hospitalization to diagnosis is 297 days. The details of this study were published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Medicine.[1]
Patients with lung cancer or metastatic cancers to the lung often develop pneumonia as the first clinical sign of disease. However, the incidence of pulmonary malignancies in patients with pneumonia has not been determined.