[Hematological problems in patients with bronchial cancer]

Four patients with lung cancer and hematological disorders occurring in different stages of the disease are presented. In three out of them cancer metastases were found prior to the discovery of the primary focus. In two patients those metastases were localized in the bone marrow resulting in the hematological picture of the myelodysplastic syndrome and osteomyelofibrosis. In one of them acute lymphoblastic leukemia developed after short-lasting remission involving the regression of bone marrow metastases of the cancer. In one patient lymph node enlargement, constitutional symptoms and laboratory signs of inflammation led to the preliminary diagnosis of Hodgkin disease. In the remaining patient acute leukemia resistant to chemotherapy developed 34 month after the diagnosis of lung cancer. Our observations point to the necessity of the through diagnosis in every case of hematologic abnormalities of unknown origin and the search of a possible underlying malignancy.