[Clinical aspects of bronchial cancer in advanced age]

Lung cancer is the most common carcinoma of men and it is increasingly diagnosed in women. The incidence of lung cancer does not increase in the last decades of men, however its course as well as its diagnosis are retarded. Many symptoms of lung cancer are imitated by other diseases of old age and only the recognition of the most trivial symptoms and of the slightest changes of lifelong habits will accelerate the final diagnosis. Paraneoplastic syndromes may present as various clinical pictures. They origin from toxic or from immunopathologic reactions and they may be caused by functionally active proteins and hormones of the tumor. In most cases the final diagnosis will be retarded by the appearance of paraneoplastic syndromes.