RESUMO
SETTING: Lung cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) comorbidity is a clinical problem that presents a challenge for the diagnosis and treatment of both diseases. OBJECTIVE: To clarify the clinical and survival characteristics of cases with both lung cancer and active pulmonary TB. DESIGN: From 2008 to 2013, 3350 TB patients admitted to the TB Department of the Chest Diseases Hospital of Izmir, Turkey, were evaluated. RESULTS: In 38 (1.1%) male patients, lung cancer and TB were found to coexist. Almost all of the patients were diagnosed at Stage III (n = 14, 36.8%) or IV (n = 17, 44.7%) lung cancer, whereas four (10.6%) had Stage II and three (7.9%) had Stage I disease. Squamous cell lung cancer was the predominant histology (n = 23, 60.7%). The median overall survival among patients was 13.4 months (95%CI 8.09-18.8). One-year survival rates for patients with Stages I, II, III and IV were respectively 100%, 75%, 57% and 40%. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that lung cancer combined with active pulmonary TB most frequently presents as squamous cell carcinoma, with a male predominance. The overall survival of lung cancer patients did not change even with concomitant active TB.
