Association of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer on computer tomograms (literature review)
Relevance. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer (LC) are an acute problem of modern medicine. COPD often accompanies LC. Computed tomography (CT) is a “gold standard" for lung examination. This paper provides an analysis of CT results at LC accompanied with COPD. Materials and methods. The literature included sources from PubMed database for the period of 2000-2018 by keywords “COPD, lung cancer, CT". The literature review covers 65 literature sources meeting the selection criteria. Results. The degree of airflow obstruction in COPD refers both to emphysema and to the thickening of the airway wall on CT sections. Emphysema visually identified on CT scans during screening for lung cancer was found to be a risk factor for lung cancer regardless of the degree of obstruction. A computerized analysis of emphysema severity of and airway diameter can help in determining the LC risk level. Conclusion. Many researchers believe COPD to be a predictor of LC. Therefore, patients diagnosed with COPD shall periodically undergo CT to ensure early detection of LC.