It has been reported that some patients have been misdiagnosed with COPD , when in fact the correct diagnosis in their specific case was Lung Cancer.
In most cases, the sooner a diagnosis is made, the better the prognosis. Unfortunately, in some instances, there is a delay in diagnosis. In a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, lung cancer was one of the top three cancers most often misdiagnosed. As with all types of cancer, lung cancer is a progressive disease. A delay in diagnosis may mean treatment is not started until the cancer is advanced. Patients with advanced lung cancer often have a poor long-term survival rate