Solid tumors versus mixed tumors with a ground-glass opacity component in patients with clinical stage IA lung adenocarcinoma: prognostic comparison using high-resolution computed tomography findings

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to compare malignant behavior and prognosis between solid tumors and mixed tumors with a ground-glass opacity component on high-resolution computed tomography.

Methods: We examined 436 of 502 consecutive patients with clinical stage IA adenocarcinoma who had undergone preoperative high-resolution computed tomography and F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography; 66 patients with tumors with pure ground-glass opacity components were excluded. Tumor type (solid, n = 137; mixed, n = 299) and surgical results were analyzed for all patients and their matched pairs.

Results: In all patients, solid tumors showed a significantly greater association (P < .001) with lymphatic, vascular, and pleural invasion and lymph node metastasis compared with mixed tumors. The disease-free survival was also worse in patients with solid tumors (P = .0006). Analysis of 97 pairs matched for solid component size confirmed that solid tumors were significantly associated with lymphatic, vascular, and pleural invasion (P = .008, P = .029, P = .003, respectively) and poor prognosis. When maximum standardized uptake value and solid component size were matched (n = 79), the differences in pathologic prognostic parameters and disease-free survivals between patients with solid and mixed tumors disappeared.

Conclusions: Solid tumors exhibit more malignant behavior and have a poorer prognosis compared with mixed tumors, even when the solid component size is the same in both tumor types. However, differences in malignant behavior can be identified using maximum standardized uptake values determined by F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.