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Vol.38 No.6 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
Characteristics of Lung Cancer Patients Detected by Screening
Toshiaki Fujikane, Kyouko Nakanishi, Akinori Takeda, Yasuhiro Yamazaki, Yuka Fujita, Tadakatsu Tsuji, Hiroyuki Matsumoto and Tetsuo ShimizuDepartment of Internal Medicine, National Dohoku Hospital
In order to clarify some problems involved in lung cancer screening, we analyzed characteristics of 177 lung cancer patients detected by screening (screening group), comparing to those of 537 patients detected by other methods (other group). The screening group were younger and showed a significantly larger rate of females and fewer symptoms than the other group. In the screening group, 118 patients who underwent operation (operation group) were younger and showed significantly fewer symptoms than the 59 patients who did not undergo operation (non operation group). There were no significant differences in gender, smoking habits, other chest illness, results of screening examination on the previous year, chest X-ray film changes or the duration from the screening examination to visiting our hospital in either group. A multiple regression model revealed that age and symptoms contributed to determinants for operability and Cox's proportional hazards model revealed that symptoms, age and chest X-ray film changes contributed to survival. These results showed that symptoms had an important influence upon operability and survival. The 39.5% rate of the screening group showed some subjective symptoms already, which were very poor. We must advise subjects who have some lasting symptoms not to wait for next screening examination but to visit a screening hospital soon.
key words: Lung cancer screening, Determinants for operability, Subjective symptom
Received: April 6, 1998
Accepted: August 11, 1998
JJLC 38 (6): 653-660, 1998
