[Analysis of multiple primary malignant tumors including lung cancer]

In our hospital, from 1984 to 1986, we have performed autopsies on 50 lung cancer cases. Ten (20%) cases were found to have multiple primary malignant tumors, ie. one quadruple, 2 triple, 7 double malignant tumors, and almost all cases with multiple primary malignancies were males more than 70 years old. A histological examination showed that seven of these had tumors of the squamous cell type. In six cases, lung cancer was the primary disease and in 5 cases both malignancies existed simultaneously. When we lysed 5 g of autopsied lung, we were able to detect more than 100 asbestos bodies in 9 cases out of ten. Further, we noticed that triple or quadruple cases showed more asbestos bodies. Thus, we suspect that nearly all cases had been affected by exposure to asbestos.