Clinico-pathological features and management of lung cancer patients with atherosclerotic vascular diseases.

Purpose: Increased numbers of patients with both lung cancer and atherosclerotic vascular disease (AVD) may be expected in the future. The aim of this study was to report the incidence of lung cancer in patients with AVD and to discuss patient characteristics and management.

Method: A total of 638 patients who underwent AVD treatment were investigated.

Results: Lung cancer was observed in 17 (2.7%) of 638 patients studied. The proportion of smoking history was significantly higher in patients with lung cancer (p = 0.0091).The pack-year index in patients with lung cancer was significantly higher than that in patients without lung cancer (p = 0.0073). Although 4 of 6 (66.7%) patients with concomitant lung cancer and AVD had stage I or II lung cancer, 5 of 7 (71.4%) patients with lung cancer diagnosed after AVD treatment had stage III or IV lung cancer. In patients with lung cancer found after AVD treatment, only 1 of 7 patients underwent surgical resections. The time until lung cancer was 12 to 198 months with a mean of62.5 months after AVD treatment. In concomitant cases, priority was given to AVD treatment in all 5 cases, and there were no serious events after the postoperative course.

Conclusions: Both patients with a smoking history and heavy smokers were at high risk for lung cancer, and most lung cancers found after AVD treatment were in the advanced stages and had poor prognoses. Therefore, we recommend careful and routine follow-up for screening lung cancer after AVD treatment.