[Preneoplasms of the bronchial system in smokers and nonsmokers (author's transl)]

Parallel to the rapidly rising frequency of bronchial carcinoma with almost 27,000 deaths in 1978, preneoplasms of the bronchial system are now almost daily observations for the pathologist. The question of cancerous prestages of the bronchial mucosa is closely coupled with the histogenesis of malignant neoplasms. Besides epithelial anomalies such as basal cell hyperplasia and squamous epithelial metaplasias, precancerous epithelial dysplasias of Grades I to III and carcinoma in situ must be differentiated. According to the results of extensive histological investigation connections between smoking, smoking habits and carcinogenic constituents in the condensate of cigarettes on the one hand and both frequency and severity of preneoplastic and neoplastic changes in the bronchial system on the other are well known.