[Bronchial asthma associated with primary lung cancer--comparison of extrathoracic malignancies]

Regarding 249 bronchial asthma patients having been admitted to our division for the recent 9 years, clinical manifestations of 8 bronchial asthma with primary lung cancer (group A; squamous cell carcinoma--5 cases, adenocarcinoma--2 cases, small cell carcinoma--1 case; 3.2% of 249 cases) and 8 asthma patients with extrathoracic malignancy (group B; gastric cancer--3 cases, malignant lymphoma--2 cases, bladder cancer--1 case, laryngeal cancer--1 case, prostatic cancer--1 case) were investigated. In group A, the mean of asthmatic history was 19 years and all cases were associated with respiratory tract infections. Three of 8 patients, were mild type and other 5 were moderate type. In group B, the mean of asthmatic history was 20 years and all cases were involved with respiratory tract infections. Five of 8 patients were mild type and other 3 were moderate type. The mean smoking (Brinkmann) index (1194) in group A was significantly higher than that (166) in 241 asthmatic patients without lung cancer or that (169) in group B. The median survival duration (more than 26 months) of group A patients was significantly lower than that (more than 77 months) of group B. These results suggested that, in many bronchial asthma patients accompanied by primary lung cancer who have adult-typed infectious asthmatic history, smoking exposure and aging are deeply related to the development of lung cancer.