Knee Pain May Signal Lung Cancer -Health Day

Heavy smokers with knee arthritis may be experiencing an early sign of a difficult-to-treat lung cancer, research shows.

Researchers at Prato Hospital in Italy reviewed the case files of 296 patients with inflammation in one knee between 2000 and 2005.

In just under 2 percent of these patients, the mild knee arthritis was accompanied by non-small cell lung cancer. All patients were middle-aged men who had been heavy smokers for most of their lives. Once the cancer tissue was surgically removed, the knee pain cleared up as well.