Invasiveness assessment by CT quantitative and qualitative features of lung cancers manifesting ground-glass nodules in 555 patients: A retrospective cohort study / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective     To explore the correlation between the quantitative and qualitative features of CT images and the invasiveness of pulmonary ground-glass nodules, providing reference value for preoperative planning of patients with ground-glass nodules. Methods    The patients with ground-glass nodules who underwent surgical treatment and were diagnosed with pulmonary adenocarcinoma from September 2020 to July 2022 at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University were collected. Based on the pathological diagnosis results, they were divided into two groups: a non-invasive adenocarcinoma group with in situ and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma, and an invasive adenocarcinoma group. Imaging features were collected, and a univariate logistic regression analysis was conducted on the clinical and imaging data of the patients. Variables with statistical difference were selected for multivariate logistic regression analysis to establish a predictive model of invasive adenocarcinoma based on independent risk factors. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated based on the Youden index. Results     A total of 555 patients were collected. The were 310 patients in the non-invasive adenocarcinoma group, including 235 females and 75 males, with a meadian age of 49 (43, 58) years, and 245 patients in the invasive adenocarcinoma group, including 163 females and 82 males, with a meadian age of 53 (46, 61) years. The binary logistic regression analysis showed that the maximum diameter (OR=4.707, 95%CI 2.060 to 10.758), consolidation/tumor ratio (CTR, OR=1.027, 95%CI 1.011 to 1.043), maximum CT value (OR=1.025, 95%CI 1.004 to 1.047), mean CT value (OR=1.035, 95%CI 1.008 to 1.063), spiculation sign (OR=2.055, 95%CI 1.148 to 3.679), and vascular convergence sign (OR=2.508, 95%CI 1.345 to 4.676) were independent risk factors for the occurrence of invasive adenocarcinoma (P<0.05). Based on the independent predictive factors, a predictive model of invasive adenocarcinoma was constructed. The formula for the model prediction was: Logit(P)=–1.293+1.549×maximum diameter of lesion+0.026×CTR+0.025×maximum CT value+0.034×mean CT value+0.72×spiculation sign+0.919×vascular convergence sign. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the model was 0.910 (95%CI 0.885 to 0.934), indicating that the model had good discrimination ability. The calibration curve showed that the predictive model had good calibration, and the decision analysis curve showed that the model had good clinical utility. Conclusion     The predictive model combining quantitative and qualitative features of CT has a good predictive ability for the invasiveness of ground-glass nodules. Its predictive performance is higher than any single indicator.

A Case of New Rapidly Progressing Ground-glass Nodule Lung Adenocarcinoma Near Primary Lesion after Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy / 中国肺癌杂志

Ground-glass nodule (GGN) lung cancer often progresses slowly in clinical and there are few clinical studies on long-term follow-up of patients with operable GGN lung cancer treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). We present a successful case of GGN lung cancer treated with SBRT, but a new GGN was found in the lung adjacent to the SBRT target during follow-up. The nodule progressed rapidly and was confirmed as lung adenocarcinoma by surgical resection. No significant risk factors and related driving genes were found in molecular pathological findings and genetic tests. It deserves further study whether new GGN is related to the SBRT. This case suggests that the follow-up after SBRT should be vigilant against the occurrence of new rapidly progressive lung cancer in the target area and adjacent lung tissue.
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Imaging diagnosis reasoning and countermeasures of pulmonary ground-glass nodules / 中国综合临床

The pulmonary ground glass nodule (GGN) is a common clinical phenomenon at present, and most of them are tumors. The new classification classifies these neoplastic lesions into pre invasive lesions and invasive adenocarcinoma, and proposes micro invasive carcinoma separately, because the cure rate of surgical resection is almost 100%. Computed tomography (CT) is the first choice for preoperative examination, especially the ultra-high resolution target scanning assisted by physiological ventilation can better display the characteristics of GGN. On this basis, it can effectively determine the aggressiveness of GGN, which is worth recommended.

Predicting the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as ground-glass opacity using spectral CT multi-parameter functional imaging / 中华放射学杂志

Objective:To explore the clinical value of quantitative parameters on spectral CT in predicting the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as ground-glass nodules (GGN).Methods:The clinical and imaging data of 129 patients with pathologically confirmed lung adenocarcinoma who were surgically resected in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from March to October 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, including 45 males and 84 females, aged from 33 to 81. According to the pathological results, they were divided into the minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) group ( n=64) and the invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) group ( n=65). All patients underwent enhanced spectral CT within two weeks before surgery. The iodine density map, Z-Effective (Z eff) map, and electron density (ED) map were reconstructed on the post-processing workstation, and the spectral parameters, including normalized iodine concentration (NIC), arterial enhancement fraction (AEF), Z eff, and ED were measured and calculated. Conventional CT features were analyzed, including maximum diameter, CT value, nodule types, margin, lobulation sign, spiculation sign, bubble sign, pleural retraction sign, abnormal vascular sign, and air bronchial sign. The clinical features, conventional CT characteristics and spectral CT parameters of two groups were compared using the independent sample t test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the χ 2 test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent risk factors of lung adenocarcinoma invasiveness, and the model was constructed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the performance of parameters and models in predicting the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma. Results:There were significant differences between the MIA group and IAC group in maximum diameter, CT value, nodule type, margin, spiculation sign, pleural retraction sign, air bronchial sign, venous phase NIC, AEF, venous phase Z eff, arterial phase ED, venous phase ED ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the maximum diameter (OR=1.183, 95%CI 1.062-1.318), CT value (OR=1.004, 95%CI 1.001-1.007), venous phase NIC (OR=1.185, 95%CI 1.083-1.298), AEF(OR=0.975, 95%CI 0.957-0.994), venous phase Z eff (OR=0.031, 95%CI 0.005-0.196) were independent influence factors for the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma. The conventional CT model was established with the maximum diameter and CT value, and the spectral CT model was established with venous phase NIC, AEF, and venous phase Z eff. The combined model was established with all the parameters above. Areas under the ROC curve of the conventional CT model, the spectral CT model, and the combined model for predicting the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma were 0.828, 0.854, and 0.902, respectively. Conclusion:The quantitative parameters of double-layer detector spectral CT can be used as an indicator to predict the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as GGN, and AEF has the highest diagnostic efficacy. Spectral CT combined with conventional CT features can further improve the diagnostic efficiency.

Predictive value of the quantitative model based on artificial intelligence for pathological subtypes of stage Ⅰ invasive lung adenocarcinoma with ground glass nodule / 实用放射学杂志

Objective To explore the predictive value of artificial intelligence(AI)quantitative model for pathological subtypes of stage Ⅰ invasive lung adenocarcinoma with ground glass nodule(GGN).Methods A total of 118 cases(124 lesions)of GGN patients with stage Ⅰ invasive lung adenocarcinoma confirmed by surgery and pathology were analyzed retrospectively,and they were divided into lepidic predominant adenocarcinoma(LPA)group(46 lesions)and non-lepidic predominant adenocarcinoma(n-LPA)group(78 lesions)according to the pathological subtype results.Some relevant AI quantitative parameters were recorded,including the longest diameter,total volume,the percentage of solid volume,total mass,the percentage of solid mass,maximum CT value,minimum CT value,and average CT value.The independent predictors of n-LPA were screened by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis,the independent risk factors were quantified by Nomogram,and the diagnostic efficiency of the model was evaluated by using receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that the percentage of solid mass[odds ratio(OR)=1.965,95％confidence interval(CI)1.515-2.549]and average CT value(OR=1.020,95％CI 1.004-1.036)were independent predictors of n-LPA(P＜0.05).The Nomogram to quantify the independent risk factors showed that the above prediction model was in good agreement with the actual results,and the C-index value was 0.872(95％CI 0.791-0.953).ROC curve analysis showed that the diagnostic performance of the combination of the above two indexes[area under the curve(AUC)=0.829]was better than that of the solid mass percentage(AUC=0.788)and the average CT value(AUC=0.765)of the single indexes,and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 87.2％and 84.8％,respectively,which were consistent with the pathological results(Kappa=0.667).Conclusion The percentage of solid mass and the average CT value in the AI quantitative model can effectively help predict the pathological subtypes of GGN stage Ⅰ invasive lung adenocarcinoma,and the combination of the above two indicators can improve the differential diagnosis efficiency of CT between LPA and n-LPA.

Value of combined model based on clinical and radiomics features for predicting invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as ground glass nodule / 医疗卫生装备

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of a combined model based on clinical and radiomics features for the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma manifesting as ground glass nodule(GGN).Methods Clinical data of patients with GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma who underwent chest CT and were confirmed by surgical pathology at some hospital from January to December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively,and the extraction of imaging histological features was performed using Python-based open resource Pyradiomics.A clinical model was constructed based on independent risk factors obtained from univariate and multivariate analyses,a radiomics model was built using the screened radiomics features,and a combined model was established with the predictive values of the clinical models and radiomics scores(Radscore).The predictive performance of the three models in the training and test sets was assessed using ROC curves,the statistical significance of the differences in the ROC curves of the three models for predicting GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma was assessed using the Delong test,and the net benefits of the models were analyzed using clinical decision curves.Results Logistic multifactor analysis showed that age(P=0.020 2)and vascular characteristics(P=0.002 2)were the independent predictors of the degree of the invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma.The AUCs of the radiomics model,clinical model and combined model were 0.876,0.867 and 0.904 on the training set,and 0.828,0.828 and 0.864 on the test set,respectively.The difference between the ROC curves of the combined model and the clinical and radiomics models was not statistically significant(P>0.05)on the test set.Clinical decision curves showed a higher clinical benefit when using the combined model to predict the invasiveness under most conditions of threshold probability.Conclusion The combined model based on clinical and radiomics features enhances the predictive performance for the invasiveness of GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma.

Research progress on the correlation between imaging characteristics and pathological invasion degree of early lung adenocarcinoma / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#With the development of multi-slice spiral computed tomography (CT) technology and the popularization of low-dose spiral CT screening, more and more adenocarcinomas presenting ground-glass nodule (GGN) are found. Pathological invasiveness is one of the important factors affecting the choice of treatment strategy and prognosis of patients with early lung adenocarcinoma. Imaging features have attracted wide attention due to their unique advantages in predicting the pathologic invasiveness of early lung adenocarcinoma. The imaging characteristics of GGN can be used to predict the pathologic invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma and provide evidence for clinical decisions. However, the imaging parameters and numerical values for predicting pathologic invasiveness are still controversial, which will be reviewed in this paper.

Application comparison of CT-guided localization with medical glue or puncture needle for pulmonary ground-glass nodules before thoracoscopic resection / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective:To investigate the application value of CT-guided localization with medical glue or puncture needle before thoracoscopic pulmonary ground-glass nodule resection.Methods:The clinical data of 92 patients who underwent localization before thoracoscopic resection of pulmonary ground-glass nodules in Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital from June 2019 to November 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the preoperative localization method, the patients were divided into puncture needle group (52 cases) and medical glue group (40 cases). The localization success rate, localization time and incidence rate of complications were compared between the two groups.Results:The success rate of localization in both groups was 100%. In puncture needle group, the guide wire of 1 case (1.9%) prolapsed, but it did not affect the surgical resection. The localization time of puncture needle group and medical glue group was (18±6) min and(14±5) min, and there was a statistical difference between the two groups ( t = 3.06, P = 0.003). The incidence of bleeding and pneumothorax in medical glue group was lower than that in puncture needle group [12.5% (5/40) vs. 38.5% (20/52), χ2 = 7.70, P = 0.009; 35.0% (14/40) vs. 71.2% (37/52), χ2 = 11.96, P = 0.001]. The incidence rate of irritating cough in was higher than that in puncture needle group [50.0% (20/40) vs. 11.5% (6/52), χ2 = 16.50, P < 0.05]. Conclusions:CT-guided localization with medical glue or puncture needle can achieve satisfactory results in the localization of pulmonary ground-glass nodule before thoracoscopic resection and help to improve the accuracy of surgical resection. The incidence rates of bleeding and pneumothorax of medical glue localization are lower than those of puncture needle localization.

Advances in indications of anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy for early-stage lung cancer / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Whether anatomical segmentectomy can replace lobectomy in the treatment of early-stage lung cancer remains controversial. A large number of studies have been conducted for decades to explore whether pulmonary segmentectomy can treat early-stage lung cancer, which is actually to explore the indications of intentional segment-ectomy. With the development of scientific researches, it is found that many characteristics affect the malignancy of lung cancer, and the different grades of each characteristic affect the prognosis of patients. It is worth exploring whether different surgical approaches can be used for early-stage lung cancer with different characteristics and different grades. This article reviews the literature and studies to discuss the advances in indications of segmentectomy for early-stage lung in terms of tumor size, consolidation-to-tumor ratio, pathological classification and tumor location, respectively. The objective of this review is to help thoracic surgeons to objectively and scientifically select the surgical method according to the clinical characteristics of early-stage lung cancer.

Pulmonary nodules localization via microcoil and anchor with scaled suture guided by CT in thoracoscopic surgery: A retrospective cohort study / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective    To compare the effectiveness and safety of preoperative lung localization by microcoil and anchor with scaled suture. Methods    A total of 286 patients underwent CT-guided puncture localization consecutively between October 2019 and December 2020 in our hospital. According to the different methods of localization, they were divided into a microcoil group (n=139, including 49 males and 90 females, aged 57.92±10.51 years) and an anchor group (n=147, including 53 males and 94 females, aged 56.68±11.31 years). The clinical data of the patients were compared. Results    A total of 173 nodules were localized in the microcoil group, and 169 nodules in the anchor group. The localization success rate was similar in the two groups. However, the anchor group was significantly better than the microcoil group in the localization time (8.15±2.55 min vs. 9.53±3.08 min, P=0.001), the pathological receiving time (30.46±14.41 min vs. 34.96±19.75 min, P=0.029), and the hemoptysis rate (10.7% vs. 30.1%, P=0.001), but the pneumothorax rate was higher in the anchor group (21.3% vs. 11.0%, P=0.006). Conclusion    Preoperative localization of small pulmonary nodules using anchor with suture is practical and safe. Due to its simplicity and convenience, it is worth of promotion in the clinic.

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors Analysis for Visceral Pleural Invasion in Mixed Ground-glass Nodular Lung Adenocarcinoma / 中国肺癌杂志

BACKGROUND@#Lung cancer is still the malignant tumor with the highest morbidity and mortality in China. Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common subtype, and the number of lung cancer presenting as mixed ground glass nodule (mGGN) in imaging is gradually increasing. Visceral pleural invasion (VPI) is an important factor affecting the prognosis of mGGN type lung adenocarcinoma. The aim of the study is to explore and analyze the risk factors for VPI in mGGN type lung adenocarcinoma.@*METHODS@#From November 2016 to November 2019, 128 patients with mGGN lung adenocarcinoma underwent radical surgical resection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Their clinical data, including imaging, pathological and biological features, were collected and analyzed retrospectively. There were 40 males and 88 females, aged 60.3±9.3 years ranging from 30 to 81 years. Single factor Chi-square test and multivariate Logistic regression were used to analyze the risk factors of VPI in mGGN type lung adenocarcinoma.@*RESULTS@#Among 128 mGGN patients who met the inclusion criteria, 57 cases were pathologically confirmed with pleural invasion. Between the VPI (+) and VPI (-) group (P<0.05), there were significant differences in gender, maximum diameter of solid component, consolidation tumor ratio (CTR), spicule sign, history of lung disease, family history of hypertension, relation of lesion to pleura (RLP), coursing relationship between bronchi and nodules. In multivariate Logistic regression analysis, RLP (OR=3.529, 95%CI: 1.430-8.713, P=0.006) and coursing relationship between bronchi and nodules (OR=3.993, 95%CI: 1.517-10.51, P=0.005) were found to be independent risk factors for VPI (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The possibility of VPI in m GGN lung adenocarcinoma should be evaluated by combining these parameters in clinical diagnosis and treatment. As independent risk factors, RLP and coursing relationship between bronchi and nodules are instructive to identify VPI in mGGN type lung adenocarcinoma.

Application value of deep learning reconstruction to improve image quality of low-dose chest CT / 中华放射学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of deep learning reconstruction (DLR) compared with hybrid iterative reconstruction (Hybrid IR) in improving the image quality in chest low-dose CT (LDCT).Methods:Seventy-seven patients who underwent LDCT scan for physical examination or regular follow-up in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from October 2020 to March 2021 were retrospectively included. The LDCT images were reconstructed with Hybrid IR at standard level (Hybrid IR Stand) and DLR at standard and strong level (DLR Stand and DLR Strong). Regions of interest were placed on pulmonary lobe, aorta, subscapularis muscle and axillary fat to measure the CT value and image noise. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) were calculated. Subjective image quality was evaluated using Likert 5-score method by two experienced radiologists. The number and features of ground-glass nodule (GGN) were also assessed. If the scores of the two radiologists were inconsistent, the score was determined by the third radiologist. The objective and subjective image evaluation were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Bonferroni test was used for multiple comparisons within the group.Results:Among Hybrid IR Stand, DLR Stand and DLR Strong images, the CT value of pulmonary lobe, aorta, subscapularis muscle and axillary fat had no significant differences (all P>0.05), but the image noise and SNR of pulmonary lobe, aorta, subscapularis muscle and axillary fat had significant differences(all P<0.05), and the CNR of images had significant difference( P<0.05), too. The CNR of Hybrid IR Stand images, DLR stand images and DLR strong images were 0.71 (0.49, 0.88), 1.06 (0.78, 1.32) and 1.14 (0.84, 1.48), respectively. Compared with Hybrid IR images, DLR images had lower objective and subjective image noise,higher SNR and CNR (all P<0.05). The scores of DLR images were superior to Hybrid IR images in identifying lung fissures, pulmonary vessels, trachea and bronchi, lymph nodes, pleura, pericardium and GGN (all P<0.05). Conclusions:DLR significantly reduced the image noise, and DLR images were superior to Hybrid IR images in identifying GGN in chest LDCT while maintaining superior image quality at relatively low radiation dose levels. Thus DLR images can improve the safety of lung cancer screening and pulmonary nodule follow-up by CT.

Segmentation of ground glass pulmonary nodules using full convolution residual network based on atrous spatial pyramid pooling structure and attention mechanism / 生物医学工程学杂志

Accurate segmentation of ground glass nodule (GGN) is important in clinical. But it is a tough work to segment the GGN, as the GGN in the computed tomography images show blur boundary, irregular shape, and uneven intensity. This paper aims to segment GGN by proposing a fully convolutional residual network, i.e., residual network based on atrous spatial pyramid pooling structure and attention mechanism (ResAANet). The network uses atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) structure to expand the feature map receptive field and extract more sufficient features, and utilizes attention mechanism, residual connection, long skip connection to fully retain sensitive features, which is extracted by the convolutional layer. First, we employ 565 GGN provided by Shanghai Chest Hospital to train and validate ResAANet, so as to obtain a stable model. Then, two groups of data selected from clinical examinations (84 GGN) and lung image database consortium (LIDC) dataset (145 GGN) were employed to validate and evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Finally, we apply the best threshold method to remove false positive regions and obtain optimized results. The average dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of the proposed algorithm on the clinical dataset and LIDC dataset reached 83.46%, 83.26% respectively, the average Jaccard index (IoU) reached 72.39%, 71.56% respectively, and the speed of segmentation reached 0.1 seconds per image. Comparing with other reported methods, our new method could segment GGN accurately, quickly and robustly. It could provide doctors with important information such as nodule size or density, which assist doctors in subsequent diagnosis and treatment.

Progress in screening and follow-up studies of pulmonary ground glass nodules / 中华肿瘤杂志

With the wide application of high-resolution chest CT in health check-up, the ground glass nodule(GGN) has been increasingly detected. GGNs have a complex etiology and image features, which can develop fast or very slowly. Therefore, whether to follow up or to resect it is usually very difficult to be determined. Overdiagnosis or overtreatment frequently happens. According to the development of GGNs, the process can be clinically divided into four stages: biological onset stage (pre-detection stage), observational stage, clinical treatment stage and postoperative follow-up stage. This review summarizes the progress on the natural development process, imaging monitoring and differentiation, the optimal time of surgical treatment for GGNs based on the decision of multidisciplinary team. This revie wmay be helpful for clinicians to understand the rule of GGN development in the follow-up, and find an optimal time to give surgical intervention for improving the prognosis of and life quality of the GGN patients.

Management strategy and role of thermal ablation in ground-glass nodules / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#The majority of incidentally found and screen-detected lung cancer is manifested as ground-glass nodule (GGN), which is more likely to be detected in the young people, women and non-smokers. An appropriate management strategy for GGN can not only reduce the mortality of lung cancer but also minimize overtreatment. Although most of persistent GGNs are finally diagnosed as adenocarcinoma or precursor glandular lesions, the GGN-featured lung cancer is characterized as indolent growth or even non-growth. Therefore, scheduled follow-up might be safe for the special radiologic type under a certain condition. We should design the individualized diagnosis and treatment strategy for each patient. The treatment decision-making depends on various factors, including invasion, dynamic change, efficacy and safety of the treatment, as well as physical and psychic condition of the patients. Different from other types of lung cancer, the indolent feature of GGN-featured lung cancer allows a long time to intervene. Therefore, the determination of proper timing for intervention should be made cautiously. Surgical resection is still the principal treatment for GGN-featured lung cancer. However, there is still no consensus on the optimal surgical approach for GGN-featured lung adenocarcinoma. Currently, sublobar resection without lymphadenectomy has been recommended to the patients with precursor glandular lesions. In light of the GGN-featured lung cancer which generally represents a local lesion, local ablation therapies have been used in those patients, especially in the ones who are inoperable or refuse to undergo surgery. The percutaneous local ablation includes different techniques: radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation and argon-helium cryoablation. The local ablation is safe, minimally invasive and repeatable. In addition, it offers the advantage to biopsy and treatment synchronously. Percutaneous ablation has the potential to be an alternative of surgery to cure GGN-featured lung cancer based on emerging evidences. The efficacy of transbronchial ablation guided by  ultrasound or electromagnetic navigational system in the treatment of GGN-featured lung cancer has been primarily validated. As a developing technology, it might be a promising approach but needs further exploration. With the advance in ablation technology, we do believe that the interventional therapy will play an equal role as surgery in curative treatment of GGN-featured lung cancer in the future. Personalized treatment considering the condition of patients and the features of the lesion will maximize the benefit of every patient. This article will explore the diagnosis and treatment strategies of GGN on the basis of further understanding of GGN, and introduce the application of ablation therapy in GGN from the perspective of respiratory intervention.

Manejo de los nódulos pulmonares subsólidos: resultados quirúrgicos basados en algoritmo local / Pulmonary subsolid nodules: surgical outcomes based on institutional algorithm

INTRODUCCIÓN: en la actualidad no existe un consenso respecto al manejo de los nódulos pulmonares subsólidos (NPSS). OBJETIVO: describir los resultados del manejo quirúrgico de los NPSS, basados en un algoritmo local. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: estudio descriptivo de corte transversal. Se revisaron las fichas clínicas electrónicas de los pacientes operados por NPSS, sugerentes de ser malignos, a juicio de un equipo multidisciplinario, entre enero de 2014 y enero de 2018, en el Departamento de Cirugía de Adultos de Clínica Las Condes. RESULTADOS: se estudió un total de 35 pacientes. La edad promedio fue de 65,8 años. El tamaño promedio de los nódulos fue de 15 mm. Todos los pacientes fueron abordados por cirugía videotoracoscópica asistida. El 88,6% de las biopsias demostró la presencia de una neoplasia maligna. CONCLUSIONES: la adopción de un algoritmo local, instituido por un equipo multidisciplinario, es una alternativa para el manejo adecuado de los portadores de NPSS.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, there is no consensus in the management of pulmonary subsolid nodules (SSNs). AIM: describe the results of surgical management of SSNs, based on institutional algorithm. MATERIAL AND METHODS: cross-sectional, descriptive study, with revision of clinical electronic records, that included all patients intervened for SSNs, suggestive of malignancy, by the judgment of a multi-disciplinary team, from January 2014 to January 2018 at the Department of Adult Surgery, Clinica Las Condes. RESULTS: 35 patients were studied. The average age was 65.8 years. The average size of the nodules was 15 mm. All patients were approached by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. 88.6% of biopsies turned out to be malignant neoplasm. CONCLUSIONS: the acquisition of a local algorithm established by a multidisciplinary team is an appropriate alternative for the management of the patients with SSNs.

Radiofrequency Ablation for Lung Ground-glass Nodule / 中国肺癌杂志

BACKGROUND@#With the wide application of computed tomography (CT) in the screening of early lung cancer, more and more ground glass nodules (GGNs) have been found. Early intervention is helpful to improve the survival rate of lung cancer patients. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an alternative option to manage primary or metastatic lung malignancies. The purpose of this study is to review the safety and clinical efficacy for lung GGN treated by RFA.@*METHODS@#From June 2016 to March 2021, 24 patients with a total of 28 lung GGNs in our hospital underwent 28 sessions of RFA. There were 13 males and 11 females with an average age of (69.4±11.1) years. The size of GGN receiving RFA was (1.30±0.56) cm; The ablation range was (2.50±0.63) cm and ablation time was (15.00±8.68) min.@*RESULTS@#The procedure of all RFAs went smoothly, no perioperative deaths occurred and no serious complications during the operation. The median follow-up was 25 months. One case died of myocardial infarction 2 months after operation. All 28 GGNs showed no evidence of local progression and the local control rate was 100.0%. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates were 95.8% and 95.8%; the tumor specific survival rates were 100.0% and 100.0%, respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#RFA is a safe, effective and minimally invasive technique for the treatment of lung GGNs.

Over- and under-treatment of lung cancer / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#With the development and improved availability of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), an increasing number of patients are clinically diagnosed with lung cancer manifesting as ground-glass nodules. Although radical surgery is currently the mainstay of treatment for patients with early-stage lung cancer, traditional anatomic lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) are not ideal for every patient. Clinically, it is critical to adopt an appropriate approach to pulmonary lobectomy, determine whether it is necessary to perform MLND, establish standard criteria to define the scope of lymph node dissection, and optimize the decision-making process. Thereby avoiding over- and under-treatment of lung cancer with surgical intervention and achieving optimal results from clinical diagnosis and treatment are important issues before us.

Puncture positioning versus free-of-puncture positioning under three-dimensional navigation in the anatomical segmentectomy for pulmonary nodules: A retrospective cohort study / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective    To explore the feasibility and clinical value of free-of-puncture positioning in three-dimension-guided anatomical segmentectomy for ground-glass nodule (GGN) compared with percutaneous positioning. Methods    Clinical data of 268 enrolled patients undergoing anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy from October 2018 to June 2019 were retrospectively collected, including 75 males and 193 females with an average age of 56.55±12.10 years. The patients were divided into two groups, including a percutaneous positioning group (n=89) and a free-of-puncture positioning group (n=179). Perioperative data of the two groups were compared. Results    The average CT scan times of the percutaneous positioning group was 3.01±0.98 times, and the numerical rating scale (NRS) score of puncture pain was 3.98±1.61 points. Pulmonary compression pneumothorax (≥30%) occurred in 7 (7.87%) patients and intercostal vascular hemorrhage occurred in 8 (8.99%) patients after puncture. Lung nodules were successfully found and removed in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the location of nodules (P=0.466), operation time (151.83±39.23 min vs. 154.35±33.19 min, P=0.585), margin width (2.07±0.35 cm vs. 1.98±0.28 cm, P=0.750), or the number of excised subsegments (2.83±1.13 vs. 2.73±1.16, P=0.530). Conclusion    Anatomical segmentectomy with three-dimensional navigation avoids the adverse consequences of puncture, which has the same clinical efficacy and meets the requirements of oncology compared with percutaneous positioning. The free-of-puncture positioning method can be used for GGN located in the central region of pulmonary segment/subsegment or adjacent to   intersegment veins instead of percutaneous positioning.

Expert Consensus for Thermal Ablation of Pulmonary Subsolid Nodules (2021 Edition) / 中国肺癌杂志

"The Expert Group on Tumor Ablation Therapy of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, The Tumor Ablation Committee of Chinese College of Interventionalists, The Society of Tumor Ablation Therapy of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association and The Ablation Expert Committee of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology" have organized multidisciplinary experts to formulate the consensus for thermal ablation of pulmonary subsolid nodules or ground-glass nodule (GGN). The expert consensus reviews current literatures and provides clinical practices for thermal ablation of GGN. The main contents include: (1) clinical evaluation of GGN, (2) procedures, indications, contraindications, outcomes evaluation and related complications of thermal ablation for GGN and (3) future development directions.
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