[Cytodiagnosis of the radiologically "occult" and the "in situ" lung neoplasm].

This paper reports on six patients, in whom a so-called "carcinoma in situ" or a radiologically "occult" carcinoma of the lung was diagnosed by means of cytological sputum examinations. On the basis of these cases, the problem of early localization of lung carcinomas is discussed. The cytological diagnosis of an occult lung carcinoma is practically always the result of an incidental sputum examination. Nevertheless, the value of "mass screenings" is doubtful, whereas systematic sputum examinations of so-called high risk patients seem so much the more indicated.