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Vol.47 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Original Article -
Appropriate Follow-up Interval of Thin Section CT Scan for Evaluating Pure Ground Glass Opacities of 10 mm or Less in the Lung Field
Miyako Hiramatsu1,2,3, Takuya Inagaki1,3, Tomoya Inagaki1, Yoshio Matsui1, Yukitoshi Satoh1,2, Sakae Okumura1, Yuichi Ishikawa2, Ken Nakagawa11Department of Thoracic Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute Hospital, 2Department of Pathology, Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Japan, 3Department of Surgery, Tokyo Jikei University of Medicine, Japan
Objective. Pure ground glass opacity (GGO) confirmed by thin section CT scan (TSCT) is considered to be an early state of lung adenocarcinoma. We reviewed the clinical records and TSCT images of cases with pure GGOs of 10 mm or less to assess the appropriate follow-up interval of TSCT scan. Methods. Between 1999 and 2004, pure GGOs (10 mm or less) unchanged for the first 3 months were followed by chest TSCT every 6 months in 62 cases (including 28 cases with a past history of lung cancer operation) at the Cancer Institute Hospital. The accumulated change rate curves by the Kaplan-Meier method was studied with particular attention to such factors as gender, age, smoking, location (above or below the major fissure), number of pure GGOs (solitary or multiple), history of any cancers excluding lung cancer and history of lung cancer alone. Results. The observation periods were 7-79 months and the median was 32 months. Pure GGOs deteriorated in 10 of 62 cases. Nine of these 10 cases had a past history of lung cancer and the pure GGO accumulated change rate was significantly associated only with this background (p=0.0018). Solid part formation was a finding seen only in 2 cases with a lung cancer history. Most of the changes in the cases with a past history of lung cancer were detected between 7 and 24 months after the initial detection of the lesions, while in the case without lung cancer history, a GGO did not change until 48 months after the detection. Conclusion. Pure GGOs of patients with lung cancer history are more likely to change during the first 24 months than cases without a lung cancer history. Therefore follow-up TSCT for these pure GGOs of patients with lung cancer history should be performed every 6 months during the first 2 years.
key words: Lung, Adenocarcinoma, Ground glass opacity (GGO), Follow-up, Thin section CT (TSCT)
Received: June 5, 2006
Accepted: December 8, 2006
JJLC 47 (1): 27-35, 2007
