1996 Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 65-70
From 1987 through 1993, 110577 person-years were screened by sputum cytology in a population based lung cancer screening program in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
A total of 172 lung cancer patients were diagnosed and treated.
In this screening program, we prepared four slides for additional examination of pooled-sputum when moderately atypical squamous cells (“C” category) were seen in the initial screening utilizing two slides.
By this method, 54 patients were diagnosed as needing further examination (“D” category).
Among these 54 patients, five cases with cancers and nine cases with borderline lesions were detected.
In conclusion, additional examination of pooled-sputum lead to an accurate diagnosis in lung cancer mass screening.
