01 April 2025
: Case report 
Early-Onset COPD and Lung Cancer: Case Studies Highlighting Diagnostic Challenges in Younger Patients
Challenging differential diagnosis, Educational Purpose (only if useful for a systematic review or synthesis), Rare coexistence of disease or pathology
Robert Uliński ABCDEF 1,2*, Piotr Korczyński
CDEF 3, Joanna Domagała-Kulawik ACDEF 4
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.946280
Am J Case Rep 2025; 26:e946280
Table 1. Timeline for patient’s diagnosis, treatment, and progression.
| Sequence of events | Progressive tiredness, not bothering patient at first | Recurrent subfebrile states | Hospitalization – lung cancer diagnosis, COPD diagnosis | Chemoradiotherapy | Death | |
| Diagnostic Pathway | Chest X-ray lungs CT scan, bronchoscopy, spirometry, | |||||
| Sequence of events | COPDDiagnosis | Hemoptysis, cough, tiredness, dyspnea, loss of weight, pain of thoracic spine | Hospitalization and treatment of pneumonia | Hospitalization Lung cancer diagnosis | Referral for chemoradiotherapy | Death |
| Diagnostic Pathway | Spirometry | Bronchoscopy | Chest X-ray lungs CT scan, bronchoscopy, histopathology | |||
| Sequence of events | Chest pain radiating to her left shoulder for couple days and hoarseness | Hospitalization Lung cancer and COPD diagnosis | Chemotherapy with immunotherapy carboplatin, etoposide, atezolizumab | Hospitalization: drug-induced (atezolizumab) autoimmunologic encephalitis | Death | |
| Diagnostic Pathway | Chest X-ray lungs CT scan, bronchoscopy, spirometry | MRI and cerebrospinal fluid analysis |