1989 Volume 28 Issue 3 Pages 356-361
We studied 14 suspected cases of lung cancer, which were evaluated as positive by cytologic screening in the Miyagi Program from 1982 to 1984. None of these demonstrated any positive findings upon chest x-ray at the initial screening. The sputum specimens obtained from these cases at initial screening were reevaluated ; three of these were determined as positive, ten as suspicious, and one as negative. Twelve patients were followed up with further sputum cytology, and two patients rejected reexamination. One case was diagnosed as carcinoma in situ after bronchial brushing, but no abnormal findings were detected upon reexamination. We also found abnormal cells caused by megaloblastic anemia in one case. One patient who had rejected the reexamination died of lung cancer two and a half years after the initial screening. We continued the follow-up programs in eight cases. One year after, one of these was revealed to have developed a lung cancer which was diagnosed as a peripherally-located occult cancer. Ten out of the fourteen cases have not shown any evidence of lung cancer for more than two years.
