[Blood and bone marrow abnormalities in primary lung cancers (author's transl)]

Blood and bone marrow abnormalities accompanying cancers have been known for a while, without yet being understood. The study of 89 patients having lung cancers leads to the following observations: thrombocytosis is frequent and should be considered as a diagnostic criterion; anemia is often associated and we have noticed a correlation between the two. The bone marrow abnormalities shown on biopsy are also frequent, presenting mainly (54/104) as irritative type. This histological pattern becomes a criterion of prognosis, since one should interpret it as a bone marrow reaction to the implantation of cancerous cells. Lastly, no relationship has been found between the blood count and the bone marrow pattern.