Lung cancer in patients with tracheostomy due to cancer of the larynx.

During 3 years, a prospective study was undertaken to investigate the frequency of lung cancer (LC) in patients with a tracheostomy after laryngectomy for neoplasm of the larynx (LxC). The protocol required a thorax radiography (RX) and a bronchofiberscopy (BF) every 6 months in each patient. Of the 286 cases studied, a diagnosis of LC was made in 36 (12.5%). In 6 of these 36 patients, there were no symptoms suggestive of LC and the RX was normal, and the diagnosis of LC was made only by systematic BF. A surgical treatment of LC was possible in only 7 cases. These results suggest that there is a high frequency of LC in patients with tracheostomy due to LxC, and also that it would be better to restrict the follow-up with systematic BF to those patients suitable for thoracotomy.