1988 Volume 10 Issue 3 Pages 245-249
We reviewed fiberoptic bronchoscopic findings of 26 patients diagnosed histologically by transbronchial lung biopsy as having pulmonary carcinomatous lymphangiosis, consisting of 14 with lung cancer, 8 with gastric cancer, 1 with breast cancer, 1 with ovarian cancer, 1 with liver cancer and 1 with cancer of unknown primary site. Bronchoscopic findings were as follows : Of the 14 patients with primary lung cancer, 13 patients (93%) showed submucosal tumor invasion. Of the 11 patients in whom the primary sites were other than the lungs. 6 (55%) showed submucosal tumor invasion and 5 almost normal finding. Bronchoscopic findings of 7 patients diagnosed as having lymphangitis carcinomatosis by peripheral lung biopsy were nearly normal. These results suggest the possibility that cancer cells in lymphangitis carcinomatosa spread into the lymphastics after intravascular tumor embolization.
