Increased use of diagnostic CT imaging increases the detection of stage IA lung cancer: pathways and patient characteristics.

BACKGROUND: At Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Denmark, the number of stage IA lung cancer increased after implementation of increased use of CT investigations and a corresponding reduction in chest X-ray. The aim of the present study was to understand the changes in referral pathways, patient characteristics and imaging procedures behind the observed increase in early-stage lung cancer. METHODS: The referral and imaging pathways for all patients diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013-2018 were described based on manually curated information from the electronic health care systems and staging information from the Danish Lung Cancer Registry. We compared the clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed in 2013-2015 and in 2016-2018 after implementation of a change in the use of low dose CT scan (LDCT). For patients diagnosed in 2016-2018, stage IA lung cancer were compared to higher stages using univariable logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Five hundred and forty-seven patients were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013-2018. Stage IA constituted 13.8% (34/247) in 2013-2015, and 28.3% (85/300) in 2016-2018. Stage IA patients in 2016-2018 were characterised by more comorbidity, fewer packyears and tended to be older than patients with higher stages. In 2016-2018, the largest proportion of stage IA patients (55%) came from within-hospital referrals. The majority of these lung cancers were detected due to imaging procedures with other indications than suspicion of lung cancer. The proportion of stage IA increased from 12% (12/99) to 36% (47/129) (p < 0.001) for hospital referrals and from 17% (22/129) to 23% (38/165) for GP referrals (p = 0.21). The imaging procedures contributing to the increase in stage IA was contrast enhanced CT (22%¸11/51), LDCT (35%; 18/51) and X-ray followed by LDCT (25%; 13/51). CONCLUSION: The increased access to LDCT for patients referred from general practice and the increased hospital requested CT activity resulted in an increase in the number of stage IA lung cancers. Incidental findings on imaging performed for diagnostic purposes unrelated to suspicion of lung cancer contributed a large proportion of the increase.

Identification and management of interstitial lung abnormalities.

Interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) are incidentally observed specific CT findings in patients without clinical suspicion of interstitial lung disease (ILD). ILA with basal and peripheral predominance and features suggestive of fibrosis in more than 5% of any part of the lung should be referred for pulmonologist review. The strategy for monitoring as described in this review is based on clinical and radiological risk factors. ILA are associated with risk of progression to ILD and increased mortality. Early identification and assessment of risk factors for progression are essential to improve outcome.

A rare case of metastatic atypical meningioma that highlights the shortcomings of treatment options at present.

We report a case of a locally invasive recurrent atypical meningioma in the temporal region with late onset of meningioma lung metastasis. The patient was diagnosed in early adolescence with an atypical meningioma believed to be radiotherapy induced following treatment of a benign pilocytic astrocytoma in the hypothalamus region at 6 years of age. Even though the patient underwent several surgical and radiotherapy treatments, the intracranial meningioma kept growing and was locally invasive. The patient received experimental treatment with bevacizumab, a vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A)-inhibitor, for 4 years from age 26. Treatment was withdrawn after proven tumor growth on routine control MRI. A DOTA-TOC PET-CT-scan was performed to evaluate the DOTA-TOC somatostatin receptor number for possible SSTR (somatostatin receptor targeted therapy). In the included scan plan multiple lung metastasis were detected and later verified. Genomic tumor sequencing was performed, but no targeted treatment options were found. Instead, the patient finally, as the last treatment option, underwent 4 series of SSTR-targeted therapy (Lutetium DOTA-TOC). Unfortunately, the intracranial tumor component significantly progressed during the final stages of the treatment and the patient died less than a year after treatment was withdrawn at age 32. This case story illustrates the shortcomings of atypical/anaplastic meningioma treatment strategies at present and highlights the possibility of extracranial metastasis.