Lung cancer and scleroderma.

Among 14 patients with carcinoma of the lung and scleroderma, 9 had no history of smoking. The 14 cases of primary lung carcinoma occurred in a population of 3550 patients with a diagnosis of scleroderma. Scleroderma preceded the diagnosis of lung cancer by at least 6 years in 8 cases. Scleroderma and lung carcinoma were diagnosed within 3 years of each other in 4 cases. The most frequent type of carcinoma in our series was small cell carcinoma, which accounted for 5 of the 14 cases. Our data indicate an increased risk of carcinoma of the lung in patients with scleroderma, even among nonsmokers. Small cell carcinoma of the lung is probably much more common in patients with scleroderma in whom lung carcinoma develops than is indicated by previous reports.