Objective To analyze the imaging features of solitary pulmonary nodules ( SPNs) , and compare the two types of lung cancer prediction models in distinguishing malignancy of SPNs.Methods A retrospective study was performed on the patients admitted to Ruijin Hospital between 2002 and 2009 with newly discovered SPNs. The patients all received pathological diagnosis. The clinical and imaging characteristics were analyzed. Then the diagnostic accuracy of two lung cancer prediction models for distinguishing malignancy of SPNs was evaluated and compared.Results A total of 90 patients were enrolled, of which 32 cases were with benign SPNs, 58 cases were with malignant SPNs. The SPNs could be identified between benign and maligant by the SPN edge features of lobulation ( P lt;0. 05) . The area under ROC curve of VA model was 0. 712 ( 95% CI 0. 606 to 0. 821) . The area under ROC curve of Mayo Clinic model was 0. 753 ( 95% CI 0. 652 to 0. 843) , which was superior to VA model. Conclusions It is meaningful for the identification of benign and maligant SPNs by the obulation sign in CT scan. We can integrate the clinical features and the lung cancer predicting models to guide clinical work.
Objective To analyze risk factors of malignancy in patients with small pulmonary nodules （diameter ≤2 cm） using univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression，and establish a mathematical prediction model to estimatethe probability of malignancy. Methods Clinical data of 147 patients with small pulmonary nodules who underwentsurgical resection with definite postoperative pathological diagnosis from January 2005 to September 2012 in the 161st Central Hospital of PLA were retrospectively analyzed. There were 84 male and 63 female patients with their age of 31-78（56.2±10.1） years. Univariate analysis using Chi-square test or t test was performed to analyze risk factors including patientage，gender，symptoms，history and quantity of smoking，history of heavy drinking，history of tumor，tumor site，diameter，lobulation，spiculation，pleural indentation，ground-glass opacity，cavity，enlarged hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes.Independent predictors of malignancy were screened with multivariate logistic regression analysis. A mathematical predictionmodel was built to estimate the probability of malignancy and then examined. Results Univariate analysis showed that there was statistical difference in patient age（t=7.146，P＜0.001），heavy smoking history（χ2=6.169，P=0.013），nodule diameter（t=3.375，P=0.001），spiculation（χ2=5.609，P=0.018），lobulation（χ2=5.675，P=0.017），and pleural indentation（χ2=12.994，P＜0.001）between benign and malignant small pulmonary nodule groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that patient age （OR=1.110，P=0.000），nodule diameter （OR=2.050，P=0.029），lobulation （OR=1.672，P=0.045），spiculation（OR=2.054，P=0.032） and pleural indentation（OR=4.090，P=0.024）were independent predictors of malignancy in patients with small pulmonary nodules （P＜0.05） . The mathematical prediction model to estimate the probability of malignancy was：Logit （P） =ez/ （1 ＋ ez），Z=-6.657 ＋ （0.104×age） ＋ （0.718×diameter） ＋ （0.720×spiculation） ＋（0.514×lobulation） ＋ （1.409×pleural indentation），and e was natural logarithm. Both Hosmer-Lemeshow test （χ2=1.802，P=0.986） and maximum likelihood ratio test （Cox-Snell R2=0.310，Nagelkerke R2=0.443） showed satisfactory goodness of fit. The diagnostic accuracy was 85.71%，sensitivity was 87.50%，specificity was 81.40%，positive predictive value was 91.92%，and negative predictive value was 72.92% when the cut-off value was 0.58. Conclusions Patient age，nodule diameter，spiculation，lobulation and pleural indentation are independent predictors of malignancy in patients with small pulmonary nodules. The mathematical prediction model can accurately estimate the probability of malignancy for patients with small pulmonary nodules.
Abstract： Objective To explore the approach of clinical diagnosis and treatment strategy for patients with small pulmonary nodules （SPN）≤ 1.0 cm in size on CT. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of 39 patients with SPN less than 1.0 cm in size who underwent lung resection at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from January 2005 to June 2011. There were 23 males and 16 females. Their age ranged from 31-74 （51.0±7.4） years. Nine patients had cough and sputum and other patients had no symptom. All the patients were found to have SPN less than 1.0（0.8±0.1）cm in size but not associated with hilum and mediastinal lymphadenectasis in chest CT and X-ray. The results of their sputum cytology and electronic bronchoscope were all negative. All the patients had no histologic evidence and underwent pulmonary function test prior to operation. Eleven patients had positron emission tomography/computer tomography （PET/CT）or single-photon emission computed tomography （SPECT）which was all negative. Thirteen patients underwent video-assisted minithoracotomy（VAMT） and 26 patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery （VATS）. Results The average operation time was 121.0±48.0 min. Patients after partial lung resection were discharged 4～5 d postoperatively, and patients after lobectomy were discharged 7 d postoperatively. All the patients had no postoperative complications. Twenty one patients were identified as lung malignancy by postoperative pathology, including 9 patients with adenocarcinoma, 7 patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, 1 patient with small cell lung carcinoma, and 4 patients with pulmonary metastasis. Eighteen patients had benign lesions including 4 patients with sclerosing hemangioma, 4 patients with inflammatory pseudotumor, 2 patients with pneumonia, 3 patients with granuloma, 2 patients with tuberculosis, and 3 patients with pulmonary lymph node hyperplasia. The SPN were located in left upper lobe in 11 patients, left lower lobe in 6 patients, right upper lobe in 14 patients, right middle lobe in 1 patient, and right lower lobe in 7 patients. Conclusion The diagnosis of SPN ≤1.0 cm in size on CT should consider malignance in the first step to avoid treatment delay. Patients may have a 3-month observation period to receive selective antibiotic treatment, chest CT and X-ray review after 2 to 4 weeks. CT- guided hook-wire fixation is useful to help in precise lesion localization for surgical resection. VATS and VAMT are common and effective methods for the diagnosis and treatment for SPN.
Diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN, less than 30 mm in diameter) has been a formidable problem in clinical work. It is often detected in medical examination or other disease examinations by chance. There are no corresponding signs and symptoms of SPN except those on the imaging, so it is difficult to make a correct diagnosis as early as possible. Literature shows that there is a certain probability of malignant SPN, so early correct diagnosis is the key factor in deciding the prognosis and appropriate treatment. With the accumulation of clinical experiences, the development of new fiberoptic bronchoscopy, highresolution CT, and videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery, as well as the evolution of some invasive examination technologies, it is less difficult in distinguishing benign from malignant SPN than ever before. In this article, we will make a comprehensive review on the development in the aspect of differential diagnosis of SPN.
Objective To investigate the risk factors, diagnosis and treatment of solitary pulmonary nodule （diameter≤3cm）. Methods From Jan. 2001 to Dec. 2002, the clinical data of 297 patients with solitary pulmonary nodule were reviewed. Chi-square or t-test were used in univariate analysis of age, gender, symptom, smoking history, the size, location and radiological characteristics of nodule, and logistic regression in multivariate analysis. Results Univariate analysis revealed that malignancy was significantly associated with age （P=0. 000）, smoking history （P=0. 001）, the size （P=0. 000） and radiological characteristics （P=0. 000） of nodule. In multivariate analysis （logistic regression）, it was significantly associated with age （OR = 1. 096）, the size （OR = 2. 329） and radiological characteristics （OR=0. 167） of nodule. Conclusion Age and the size of nodule could be risk factors. Radiological findings could help distinguish from malignant nodules.
Objective To evaluate the value of incremental dynamic enhanced computer tomography (CT) in diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). Methods The data of 42 cases with SPN who had undergone pulmonary lobectomy were collected retrospectively to find the relationship between character of preoperative dynamic enhanced CT image and postoperative pathologic result. Results All bronchogenic carcinoma showed significant enhancement after intravenous 100 ml iodinated contrast material. The average degree of enhancement of bronchogenic carcinoma during the time 85s and 135s after infusion was significantly different from that of tuberculoma and other benign lesions(Plt;0.05). Conclusion Dynamic enhanced CT is valuable in identifying the malignant nodules from benign nodules. Emphasis should be paid to the lymph nodes in the relative field with dynamic enhanced CT, which is beneficial to the diagnosis of SPN and it is an important predictor of the result of surgical treatment.
Computer-aided detection (CAD) of pulmonary nodule technology can effectively assist the radiologist to enhance lung nodule detection efficiency and accuracy rate, so it can lay the foundation for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. In order to provide reference for the scholars and to develop the CAD technology, we in this paper review the technology research and development of CAD of the pulmonary nodules which is based on CT image in recent years both home and abroad. At the same time, we also analyse the advantages and shortcomings of different methods. Then we present the improvement direction for reference. According to the literature in recent years, there still has been large development space in CAD technology for pulmonary nodules. The establishment and improvement of the CAD system in each step would be of great scientific value.
This study aims to explore the clinical value of the computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for early detection of the pulmonary nodules on digital chest X-ray. A total of 100 cases of digital chest radiographs with pulmonary nodules of 5-20 mm diameter were selected from Pictures Archiving and Communication System (PACS) database in West China Hospital of Sichuan University were enrolled into trial group, and other 200 chest radiographs without pulmonary nodules as control group. All cases were confirmed by CT examination. Firstly, these cases were diagnosed by 5 different-seniority doctors without CAD, and after three months, these cases were re-diagnosed by the 5 doctors with CAD. Subsequently, the diagnostic results were analyzed by using SPSS statistical methods. The results showed that the sensitivity and specificity for detecting pulmonary nodules tended to be improved by using the CAD system, especially for specificity, but there was no significant difference before and after using CAD system.
The possibility of solitary pulmonary nodules tending to lung cancer is very high in the middle and late stage. In order to detect the middle and late solitary pulmonary nodules, we present a new computer-aided diagnosis method based on the geometric features. The new algorithm can overcome the disadvantage of the traditional algorithm which can't eliminate the interference of vascular cross section. The proposed algorithm was implemented by multiple clustering of the extracted geometric features of region of interest (ROI) through K-means algorithm, including degree of slenderness, similar degree of circle, degree of compactness and discrete degree. The 232 lung CT images were selected from Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) database to do contrast experiment. Compared with the traditional algorithm, the detection rate of the new algorithm was 92.3%, and the error rate was 14.8%. At the same time, the detection rate of the traditional algorithm was only 83.9%, and the error rate was 78.2%. The results show that the proposed algorithm can mark the solitary pulmonary nodules more accurately and reduce the error rate due to precluding the disturbance of vessel section.
ObjectiveTo elucidate the relationship between clinical characteristics and pathology findings of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). MethodsA retrospective cohort study was carried out on 231 SPN patients pathologically confirmed between January 2009 and December 2013 in Nanjing General Hospital of Fuzhou Military Command and Fuzhou Second Hospital. Using pathological results as reference standard, the sex, age, smoking history, smoking amount, quit smoking history, and extrapulmonary malignant tumor history were compared between the SPN patients with different pathological type. ResultsFemale and age were positively correlated with the probability of malignancy in SPN with correlation coefficients as 1.090 and 0.063 respectively. Extrapulmonary malignant tumor history, smoking history, smoking amount, quit smoking history did not show significant relationship. Gender was a factor that affects pathological types of SPN. Female patients were in higher risk than male patients to have precancerous lesions, pulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma, adenocarcinoma. Male patients had higher risk suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, pulmonary cryptococcosis, squamous cell carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, inflammatory pseudotumor and metastases. Distribution of SPN pathologic types in each age group was similar. Most patients who had precancerous lesions, pulmonary hamartoma, pulmonary aspergillosis, pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma, adenocarcinoma and inflammatory pseudotumor were not smokers. ConclusionsGender and age are valuable in distinguishing benign SPN from malignant SPN. Pathologic types of SPN are related to patients' gender and smoking history.