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A 74-year-old man was found a left completely atelectasis on chest X-ray. He had undergone left lower lobe resection because of an adenocarcinoma at the age of 58. Bronchoscopy revealed a tumor near the left upper lobe branch entry that obstructed the lumen, and a biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma. A left completion pneumonectomy was performed, but #4L and #10 lymph nodes could not be completely resected. Programmed cell death 1-ligand 1( PD-L1) was positive with tumor proportion score (TPS) 15%, so chemotherapy with pembrolizumab+pemetrexed+carboplatin was started about 1.5 months after surgery. Pancytopenia appeared from the seventh course and did not improve after discontinuation of chemotherapy, so we consulted to the hematologist. He was diagnosed as aplastic anemia by bone marrow biopsy. Aplastic anemia was unresponsive to treatment and chemotherapy could not be resumed. He died of exacerbation of lung cancer.

A 64-year-old man was admitted because of multiple pulmonary nodules in right upper lobe on chest computed tomography (CT). He had non-muscle invasion bladder cancer resected by transurethral bladder tumor resection seven years ago. Partial resections of the right upper lobe were carried out at the video assisted thracoscopic surgery (VATS) for diagnostic purposes. The postoperative pathological examination revealed featuraes of pulmonary metastasis of bladder cancer. Although chemotherapy after biopsy was performed, a residual tumor in right S3 has grown. Partial resection of residual tumor was carried out thracoscopically and the tumor was diagnosed as metastasis of bladder cancer. He has been without recurrence for 1 year after the operation.

We report 2 cases of lung cancer incidentally detected following pneumothorax. Case 1:A 40-year-old man complaining of dyspnea was admitted with right pneumothorax. Chest computed tomography (CT) after chest drainage showed a cavitary nodule with pleural indentations in the right lower lobe. It was indicated at surgery that pneumothorax was caused by perforation of the tumor into the pleural cavity. Right lower lobectomy was performed because the pathological diagnosis of the nodule was a large cell carcinoma. The final histopathological diagnosis was stage II A (pT2aN1M0). The patient died of recurrence 14 months after surgery. Case 2:A 47-year-old man who admitted with right pneumothorax was found to have a nodule with pleural indentations closely a bulla at the apex of the right lung by chest CT after chest drainage. Pneumothorax was indicated to be caused by rupture of the bulla at surgery. Right upper lobectomy was performed because the pathological diagnosis of the nodule was a squamous carcinoma. The final histopathological diagnosis was stage I A (pT1bN0M0). The patient is alive at 2 years after the operation without recurrence. Lung cancer detected following pneumothorax which was caused by perforation of the tumor is generally considered to have poor prognosis. Whereas, prognosis of lung cancer incidentally detected following pneumothorax depends on its staging.