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Health Dictionary

Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.

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Large cell carcinoma of the lung differential diagnosis

Introduction

Overview

Overview

Large cell carcinoma of the lung must be differentiated from other diseases that cause non-productive cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea among adults such as tuberculosis, pulmonary fungal disease, lung abscess, and more importantly from other causes of non-small cell lung cancers, such as adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung cancer.[1][2]

Differential Diagnosis

Differential Diagnosis

  • The table below summarizes the findings that differentiate large cell carcinoma of the lung, from other diseases that cause non-productive cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea among adults such as tuberculosis, pulmonary fungal disease, lung abscess, and more importantly other causes of non-small cell lung cancers, such as adenocarcinoma and squamous cell lung cancer.[1][2]
Differential Diagnosis Similar Features Differentiating Features
Pulmonary tuberculosis
  • Cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea
  • In pulmonary tuberculosis, differentiating features include: size increase despite optimal medical therapy, patients age is usually younger, hemoptysis is an early feature, and CXR anatomical predilection for upper lobes
Lung abscess
  • Non-productive cough, weight loss, and chest pain
  • In lung abscess, differentiating features include: acute or sub-acute onset, CXR anatomical predilection for upper lobes, and usually resolve with antibiotic
Pneumonia
  • Cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea
  • In pneumonia, differentiating features include: good response to antibiotics, acute onset, predilection on CXR is consolidation, laboratory markers indicate infection
Pulmonary fungal infection
  • Non-productive cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea
  • In pulmonary fungal infection, differentiating features include: CXR findings: air-cresecent sign, no response to antibioitcs, and mimics tuberculosis
Other non-small cell lung cancers
  • Non-productive cough, weight loss, fatigue, and dyspnea
  • In other non-small cell lung cancers , differentiating features include: histopathologica features, such as larger size of the anaplastic cells, a higher cytoplasmic-to-nuclear size ratio, and a lack of “salt-and-pepper” chromatin
References

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bhatt M, Kant S, Bhaskar R (2012). “Pulmonary tuberculosis as differential diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer”. South Asian J Cancer. 1 (1): 36–42. doi:10.4103/2278-330X.96507. PMC 3876596. PMID 24455507.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Singh VK, Chandra S, Kumar S, Pangtey G, Mohan A, Guleria R (2009). “A common medical error: lung cancer misdiagnosed as sputum negative tuberculosis”. Asian Pac. J. Cancer Prev. 10 (3): 335–8. PMID 19640168.


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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Maria Fernanda Villarreal, M.D. [2]