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Older guidelines recommended routine follow-up chest x-rays at about 6 weeks after episodes of community-acquired pneumonia, presumably to screen for malignancy after an acute infiltrate has cleared. More recent U.S. guidelines don't address this issue (Clin Infect Dis 2007; 44(Suppl 2):S27), and a recent U.K. guideline recommends this practice only for patients with persistent symptoms or those “at higher risk of underlying malignancy (especially smokers and those aged >50 years)” (Thorax 2009; 64(Suppl 3):iii1).
In this population-based cohort study, Canadian researchers identified all 3398 patients without known cancer who received inpatient or outpatient treatment for pneumonia between 2000 and 2002 in metropolitan Edmonton. The incidenc…