[Phospholipids and fatty acids in pulmonary surfactant of patients with lung cancer].

The authors present the results of a study on composition of pulmonary surfactant phospholipids and fatty acids in 87 lung cancer patients. The comparison was made between smoking and non-smoking patients, related to ageing, and different histopathological structures of the tumors. Smoking lowered phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol increasing sphingomyelin. Increased levels of lysophosphatidylcholine were seen in smoking patients and ageing of the organism. Active phospholipid levels decreased with age. No correlation could be demonstrated between histopathological type of tumor and lipid composition of the surfactant.