Surgery for Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma and ???Very Early??? Adenocarcinoma: An Evolving Standard of Care?:

Clinical characteristics of patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: a retrospective study of 44 cases

BACKGROUND

Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is considered a subtype of adenocarcinoma of the lung. Recently BAC has been variously termed adenocarcinoma in situ, minimally invasive adenocarcinoma, lepidic predominant invasive adenocarcinoma, and invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma. The aim of the study was to analyze and detect prognostic factors of patients with BAC over a 7-year period.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This retrospective single-center study included 44 patients with BAC. The impact on survival of fifteen variables (gender, age, smoking status, cough, dyspnea, hemoptysis, fever, chest pain, sputum, metastasis number, Karnofsky performance status, pT, pN, TNM stage, cytotoxic chemoterapy) were assessed.

RESULTS

Median age was 55 years (38-83). Most patients were male (63.6%) and stage IV (59.1%). Twenty-one patients (47.7%) received cytotoxic chemotherapy (platinum-based regimens) for metastatic disease. Objective response rate was 33.3% (4 partial, 3 complete responses). Stable disease was observed in nine in patients (42.8%). Disease progression was noted in 5 (23.8%). The median OS for all patients was 12 months (95%CI, 2.08-22.9 months). Independent predictors for overall survival were: Karnofsky performance status (HR:3.30, p 0.009), pN (HR:3.81, p 0.018), TNM stage (HR:6.49, p 0.012) and hemoptysis (HR:2.31, p 0.046).

CONCLUSIONS

Karnofsky performance status, pN, TNM stage and hemoptysis appear to have significant impact on predicting patient survival in cases of BAC.

Naked cuticle Drosophila 1 expression in histologic subtypes of small adenocarcinoma of the lung

Background

Naked cuticle Drosophila 1 (NKD1) has been related to non-small cell lung cancer in that decreased NKD1 levels have been associated with both poor prognosis and increased invasive quality.

Methods

Forty cases of lung adenocarcinoma staged as Tis or T1a were selected. Cases were subclassified into adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA), and small adenocarcinoma (SAD). Immunohistochemical studies for NKD1 were performed.

Results

Forty samples comprised five cases of AIS (12.5%), eight of MIA (20.0%), and 27 of SAD (67.5%). AIS and MIA showed no lymph node metastasis and 100% disease-free survival, whereas among 27 patients with SAD, 2 (7.4%) had lymph node metastasis, and 3 (11.1%) died from the disease. Among the 40 cases, NKD1-reduced expression was detected in 8 (20%) samples, whereas normal expression was found in 15 (37.5%) and overexpression in 17 (42.5%). Loss of NKD1 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.001). All cases with predominant papillary pattern showed overexpression of NKD1 (p=0.026).

Conclusions

Among MIA and SAD, MIA had better outcomes than SAD. Down-regulated NKD1 expression was closely associated with nodal metastasis, and overexpression was associated with papillary predominant adenocarcinoma.

[Surgery for stage 1 lung cancer]

Surgery is the present reference treatment for stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Lymph node dissection is required for mediastinal staging and discussion of postoperative treatments. In case of limited respiratory function, sub-lobar resection can be considered, either segmentectomy or atypical resection according to the tumour size. For radiological lesions with more than 50% of ground glass opacity, a wedge resection is acceptable if the resection margin is larger than 2 cm of healthy lung.

Diagnostic performance of percutaneous core needle lung biopsy under multi-CT fluoroscopic guidance for ground-glass opacity pulmonary lesions

OBJECTIVE

The diagnostic performance of percutaneous core needle lung biopsy under multi-CT fluoroscopic guidance for ground-glass opacity (GGO) pulmonary lesions was evaluated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Out of 90 patients who underwent CT fluoroscopy-guided core needle biopsy of GGO lesions at our institution, the biopsy results and the final diagnoses were retrospectively compared in 67 patients with available data (one lesion per patient). Diagnostic performance was also compared according to the lesion size (≤ 10 mm (n=8) versus 11-20mm (n=42) versus >20mm (n=17)), the percentage of GGO component (50-90% (n=31) versus >90% (n=36)), and the length of needle path (≤ 7 cm (n=45) versus > 7 cm (n=22)). Finally, all 90 cases were reviewed for complications.

RESULTS

The overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 97%, 100%, and 97%, respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy tended to be lower in smaller lesions (≤ 10 mm; 86 and 88%, 11-20mm; 97 and 98%, >20mm; 100 and 100%, respectively, p>0.05), and in lesions with lower percentage of GGO component (50-90%; 93 and 94%, >90%; 100 and 100%, respectively, p=0.21), but statistical significances were not reached. The sensitivity and accuracy were not significantly affected by the length of needle path (≤ 7 cm; 98 and 98%, > 7 cm; 95 and 96%, respectively, p=1.00). Fourteen patients (16%) developed pneumothoraces, and 13 patients (14%) experienced mild hemoptysis, all of which resolved conservatively.

CONCLUSION

The diagnostic performance was satisfactory, and it was considered that the procedure was appropriate for GGO lesions regardless of lesion size, the percentage of GGO component, or the length of needle path. The procedure was also feasible without any major complications.