Analysis of the delay diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer initially expressed as solitary pulmonary nodules diagnosed by physical examination——162 cases report / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the delay in diagnosis and treatment lung cancer expressed as solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) found by physical examination,and to discover the relative reasons and consequence for future improvement.Methods From January 2000 to August 2011,162 patients (93 males,69 females,ranging 33-82 years,median age 63.9 years) with SPN found by physical examination and diagnosed lung cancer by surgical pathology subsequently were enrolled to this study.Depending on the interval between the date when finding SPN and the date of surgery,these cases were divided into 6 groups,including the group with interval less than 1 month (74 patients),1-3 months (48 patients),3-6 months (10 patients),6-12 months (7 patients),12-24 months (8 patients),and more than 24 months (15 patients).Factors which impact the delay interval between SNP finding and surgery were discussed.The change of tumor' s diameter during observation period,and the pathological characters were also analyzed among each group.Results Of all the delay cases,30.2％ were attributed to doctor,30.9％ attributed to patients themselves,and 38.9％ attributed to hospitals.51.0％ (25/49) of the cases delayed by doctors were misdiagnosed as inflammation,16.3％ (8/49) misdiagnosed as tuberculosis,and 16.3％ (8/49)misdiagnosed as old lesions,which were three common reasons.Patients delayed more than 3 months were more likely to be related to doctor's misdiagnosis than those delayed less than 3 months[70.0％ (28/40) vs.36.8％ (21/57),x2 =10.338.P =0.001].Moreover,the possibility of SPN enlargement was positively correlated with the delay interval.In groups with delay interval more than 24 months or between 12 and 24 months,the percentage of SPN enlargement were 73.3％ (11/15) and 87.5％ (7/8) separately.The proportion of patients with stage IV disease in groups whose delay interval exceeded 12 months (13.3％ for more than 24 months and 12.5％ for 12-24 months) also significantly surpassed others groups with shorter delay interval.Conclusion There exists obvious delayed diagnosis and treatment in lung cancer initially expressed as solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) during physical examination.Nearly 1/3 patients were delayed by doctors and half of them were misdiagnosed as inflammation.Increase of observation time could result in enlargement of SPN and advancement of disease staging.Thus,patients and doctors should pay more attention and clarify the diagnosis through surgery in less than 3 months after finding SPN,which could remarkably benefit early treatment.