Cancer and the Science of Denial –with Breast Cancer/Long Island Breast Cancer
It was found that first TB infection could be associated with the subsequent development of cancer; second that TB and malignancy may co-exist in some cases and third that similarities in the presentation of both diseases could easily lead to misdiagnosis.
Abstract
Falagas’s et al. [1] Tuberculosis & Malignancy review alone, with 211 references, cites 125 cases in which TB seemed to masquerade as malignant tumors. In all of these, clinical and/ or radiology findings indicated malignant tumor, but tissue pathology came back as mycobacterial tubercular infection. In this same report, an additional 52 cases and two retrospective studies focused on the co-existence of malignant tumors with TB at the same site. Finally, 14 additional case reports evaluated a history of TB as a risk factor for the development of a malignant tumor. A major confounding factor –that the medium time it took between the initial appearance of TB and the detection of malignancy was greater than 20 years. Yet the review’s main findings were that first TB infection could be associated with the subsequent development of cancer; second that TB and malignancy may co-exist in some cases and third that similarities in the presentation of both diseases could easily lead to misdiagnosis.