The paper is concerned with the description of clinical, x-ray and morphological investigation of 123 bronchoalveolar cancer patients. Three types of this disease were defined: nodular (homogeneous and nonhomogeneous), pneumonia-like (infiltrative and infiltrative-nodular) and mixed (focal-disseminated, focal-nodular and focal-infiltrative). These types of bronchoalveolar cancer are most probably stages of the same tumor process. Clinical and x-ray signs of each type showed correlation with a morphological picture of a tumor. Shadow nonhomogeneity as one of the main x-ray signs of bronchoalveolar cancer was shown to be determined by the "alveolar" structure of a tumor, a tendency to the formation of small cavities, filled with viscous mucosa and air. Correct clinical and x-ray diagnosis in all types of bronchoalveolar cancer (before the use of the morphological methods) was established in 45.5% of the patients.
[How to improve the diagnosis of diseases of the respiratory organs? (the experience in organizing diagnostic services at the Sverdlovsk Pulmonology Center)].
The authors have summed up their 12-year experience in forming a system of organizational measures for the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases in an industrial area with the adult population of 3,616 mln. The major stages of diagnosis were studied, measures for its improvement defined, the main causes of diagnostic errors brought to light. The authors are of opinion that separate examination of patients with pulmonary pathology in different institutions is inappropriate.
