Giant bulla and lung cancer

Several cases of lung cancer lying within giant bullae have been reported in recent years, such that some authors have posited an association between the two diseases. We describe a patient with a diagnosis of giant bulla in the right lung who presented carcinoma of the lung found within the bulla ten years later. After carrying out a MEDLINE (CD-ROM 1980 to 2000) search of the literature, we agree with other authors on the need to follow the course of patients with bullous lung disease in order to detect the possible development of lung cancer and initiate early treatment.