Neoplasia do pulmão – estudo retrospectivo de 65 casos

ABSTRACTLung cancer is the leading cause of death due to malignant neoplasms In Portugal and its incidence is increasing. The majority of cases are diagnosed in an advanced stage, which seriously limits the therapeutic options.In order to acertain the causes for late diagnosis the 65 cases diagnosed In Hospital Pedro Hispano In 1998 were reviewed, looking at the diagnostic method, histologic type, stage and treatment, as well as the time interval between the different steps.The authors concluded that patients are themselves partly responsible for the delayed diagnosis of the disease, as they don’t pay sufficient attention to symptoms seeking help only late In the course of the disease. A second factor is that the staging of disease is dependant on sophisticated diagnostic methods that are not easily available. After staging the decision to treat and the beginning of treatment are made relatively quickly.With this study the authors hope to impress on health workers the importance of making the patients more aware of the first warning symptoms and signs or the disease (especially in high risk patients – smokers and with respiratory chronic diseases), and to emphasise the need to create efficient access to the necessary methods of staging, thus permitting, early diagnosis and better chance of treatment.REV PORT PNEUMOL 2000; VI (6): 619-62