Features Based on Thin-section Computed Tomography Identify the Type of lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background: To investigate whether thin-section computed tomography (TSCT) features may efficiently guide the invasiveness basedclassification of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: Totally, 316 lung adenocarcinoma patients (from 2011-2015) were divided into three groups: 56 adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), 98 minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA), and 162 invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) according their pathological results. Their TSCT features, including nodule pattern, shape, pleural invasion, solid proportion, border, margin, vascular convergence, air bronchograms, vacuole sign, pleural indentation, diameter, solid diameter, and CT values of ground-glass nodules (GGN) were analyzed. Pearson’s chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and One-way ANOVA were adopted tocomparebetweengroups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis wereperformedto assess its value for prediction and diagnosis. Results: Patients with IAC were significantly elder than those in AIS or MIA group,and more MIA patients had a smoking history than AIS and IAC. No recurrence happened in the AIS and MIA groups, while 4.3% recurrences were confirmed in the IAC group. As for TSCT variables, we found AIS group showed dominantly higher 91.07%PGGN pattern and 87.50% round/oval nodules than that in MIA and IAC group. In contrast, MIA group showed more cases with undefined border and vascular convergence than AIS and IAC group. Importantly, IAC group uniquely showed higher frequency of pleural invasion compared with MIA and AIS group. The majority of patients (82.1%) in IAC group showed ≥ 50% solid proportion. We found diameter and solid diameter of the lesions were notably larger in the IAC group compared with AIS and MIA groupin quantitative aspect. In addition, for MGGNs, the CT values of ground-glass opacity (GGO) and ground-glass opacity solid portion (GGO-solid) were both higher in the IAC group than AIS and MIA. Finally, we also observed that smooth margin took a dominant proportion in the AIS group while most cases in the IAC group had a lobulate margin. Patients in MIA and IAC group shared higher level of air bronchograms and vacuole signs than AIS group. Conclusions: The unique features in different groups identified by TSCT had diagnosis value for lung adenocarcinoma.