TITLE:
Quantitative CT Indexes and CT Visual Score in Interstitial Lung Abnormality as Indicators of Concurrent Lung Cancer
AUTHORS:
Akihiro Hotta, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Mariko Fukui, Katsutoshi Ando, Kenji Suzuki, Ryohei Kuwatsuru, Kazuya Takamochi
KEYWORDS:
CT Visual Score, Interstitial Lung Disease, Lung Cancer, Quantitative CT Index
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Radiology,
Vol.9 No.2,
May
6,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: The associations between the severity of interstitial lung disease and the stage and histologic type of concurrent lung cancer remain unknown. Purpose: To evaluate whether the severity of interstitial lung abnormality (ILA), as indicated by quantitative computed tomographic (CT) indexes and CT visual score, was correlated with the stage and histological type of concurrent lung cancer. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight patients with surgically diagnosed lung cancer and ILA on CT were enrolled in this retrospective study. The subjects were allocated to one of three groups by histological type: adenocarcinoma group (13 subjects); squamous cell carcinoma group (10 subjects); and the other histological diagnosis group (5 subjects). Two independent observers evaluated the CT findings to determine the CT visual score, and the kurtosis and skewness of CT-based density histograms were determined. The relationships between severity of ILA and the pathological stage and histological type of concurrent lung cancer were evaluated. Results: There were no significant differences in the CT visual scores and quantitative indexes among the three groups. CT visual score was significantly negatively correlated with pathological stage (r = −0.43, P = 0.025). Conclusion: Patients can have only mild ILA on visual scoring but advanced lung cancer. Therefore, the frequency of follow-up examination should not be based on the severity of ILA on CT.