Greater use of sputum cytology has been suggested for the diagnosis of lung cancer and for screening high risk patients for the disease.
In carcinomas arising in the major bronchi—70% of all lung cancer— diagnostic changes appearing on roentgenograms of the chest "... are often too late and five-year survival remains low," contends Devendra Saksena, MB, BS.
If sputum cytology were added to the traditional roentgenographic examination, he said, there would be a much better chance for early detection of lung cancer and, hopefully, an improvement in the survival rate. Supporting this hypothesis are the results of treatment in a small series of patients reported by Dr. Saksena and his colleagues from the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City, at the American Thoracic Society meeting in Cleveland.
In a large group of patients with hemoptysis, shortness of breath, and/ or coughing, eight patients had positive sputum cytology, but
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