Correlation between CT-feature of lobulation and epidermal growth factor receptor gene mutations in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the correlation between the feature of lobulation, degree of lobulation on CT images and epidermal growth factor receptor gene (EGFR) mutations in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma.@*Methods@#Two hundred and one patients who were diagnosed with advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma between January and December 2017 and had undergone a chest CT and EGFR mutation testing at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital were enrolled in this retrospective study. The clinical and imaging data of the patients were analyzed. The patients were classified into EGFR mutations group (107 cases) and wild type group (94 cases) according to whether EGFR gene mutation occurred. The feature of lobulation (described as presence of lobulation, absence of lobulation, or obscured margin), degree of lobulation (including deep lobulation, shallow lobulation, no lobulation, and obscured) on CT images were statistically compared between the two groups.@*Results@#Based on the presence or absence of lobulation sign, there were 99, 0, 8 cases with lobulation, no lobulation, obscured margin in the EGFR mutations group and 80, 1, 13 cases in the wild type group, respectively. There was no significant difference in lobulation sign between the EGFR mutations group and wild type group (P=0.152). According to the degree of lobulation, there were 32, 67, 0, 8 cases of deep lobulation, shallow lobulation, no lobulation, obscured margin in EGFR mutations group and 60, 20, 1, 13 cases in wild type group. Significant differences of frequency were found regarding deep lobulation and shallow lobulation between the two groups (P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the presence of no lobulation, and obscured margin (P>0.05).@*Conclusions@#EGFR mutations are significantly associated with shallow lobulation in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Conversely, deep lobulation is more likely to appear in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma with wild-type EGFR. However, there is no association between EGFR mutation status and the presence of lobulation.