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

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.