Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb;11(2):557-563.
doi: 10.21037/jtd.2019.01.32.

Clinical characteristics and prognosis of ground-glass opacity nodules in young patients

Jun Wang  1 , Han Ma  1 , Chong-Jun Ni  2 , Jing-Kang He  1 , Hai-Tao Ma  1 , Jin-Feng Ge  1
Affiliations

Clinical characteristics and prognosis of ground-glass opacity nodules in young patients

Jun Wang et al. J Thorac Dis. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Background: The detection rate of ground-glass opacity (GGO) in young patients has increased year by year with the increasingly widespread use of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and the increased resolution of HRCT imaging. However, no scholars have reported the clinical characteristics and prognosis of GGO in young patients systematically. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis presenting as GGO in young patients.

Methods: Clinical data of 127 young patients who were diagnosed as GGO and who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and had routine pathological examination were collected from January 2016 to January 2017. Nodules were classified according to benign and malignant: 26 benign nodules (Group A) and 115 malignant nodules (Group B). The pathological types, nodules size, surgical methods were analyzed, and the clinical characteristics and prognosis were evaluated.

Results: The results of pathological examination of 91 pure ground-glass opacities (pGGOs) revealed 16 adenocarcinoma in situs (AISs), 42 micro invasive adenocarcinomas (MIAs), 13 invasive adenocarcinomas (IAs), 8 atypical adenomatous hyperplasias (AAHs), 1 inflammatory granuloma, 2 pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumors (IPTs) and 9 other benign nodules. The results of pathological examination of 50 mixed ground-glass opacities (mGGOs) revealed 6 AISs, 29 MIAs, 9 IAs, 1 AAH, 2 inflammatory granulomas and 3 other benign nodules. All patients had no lymph nodes invasion. The rates of perioperative complications were 6.30%, compared to 7.63% for long-term complications. None of the patients with GGO experienced a recurrence and death [2-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), 100%; 2-year overall survival (OS), 100%].

Conclusions: The GGO in young patients that received VATS has a high proportion of malignant, its prognosis is satisfied.

Keywords: Ground-glass opacity (GGO); clinical characteristics; pathological classification; prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hansell DM, Bankier AA, Macmahon H, et al. Fleischner Society: glossary of terms for thoracic imaging. Radiology 2008;246:697-722. 10.1148/radiol.2462070712 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang T, Yan T, Wan F, et al. Surgical Treatment of Small Pulmonary Nodules Under Video-assisted Thoracoscopy (A Report of 129 Cases). Zhongguo Fei Ai Za Zhi 2017;20:35-40. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Miura A, Akagi S, Nakamura K, et al. Different sizes of centrilobular ground-glass opacities in chest high-resolution computed tomography of patients with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease and patients with pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. Cardiovasc Pathol 2013;22:287-93. 10.1016/j.carpath.2012.12.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Travis WD, Brambilla E, Noguchi M, et al. International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society International Multidisciplinary Classification of Lung Adenocarcinoma. J Thorac Oncol 2011;6:244-85. 10.1097/JTO.0b013e318206a221 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bak SH, Lee HY, Kim JH, et al. Quantitative CT Scanning Analysis of Pure Ground-Glass Opacity Nodules Predicts Further CT Scanning Change. Chest 2016;149:180-91. 10.1378/chest.15-0034 - DOI - PubMed