[Management Strategies of Pulmonary Ground Galss Nodule].

Pulmonary ground glass nodule (GGN) is a term of radiological manifestation, which may be malignant or benign. The management for pulmonary GGN remains controversial. Both Fleischner society and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) panel updated the guideline for the management of GGN in 2017. Compared with previous versions, the indication for surgery or biopsy is stricter, and the recommended follow-up interval is prolonged. In clinical practice, the size of GGN component, the size of consolidation component, dynamic change during follow-up and computed tomography (CT) value are the four factors that help surgeons to decide the timing of surgery. There are some misunderstandings for the management of GGN, such as the administration of antibiotics, the use of positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), pure GGN adjacent to visceral pleura, and GGN with penetrating vessel. In conclusion, GGN is a kind of slowly growing lesion, which can be followed up safely.
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Needlescopy-assisted resection of pulmonary nodule after dual localisation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of dual localisation with hookwire and lipiodol before needlescopy-assisted resection for pulmonary nodule. Computed tomography-guided dual marking was performed on 36 pulmonary nodules of 32 patients and needlescopy-assisted resection was performed monitored by C-arm fluoroscopy. The mean age of the patients was 58 ± 12 (range 12-77) yrs. The mean size of the nodules was 7.5 ± 3.7 (3-17) mm. Their mean distance from the pleural surface was 7.3 ± 7.5 (0-35) mm. There were nine pure ground-glass opacity lesions, five semi-solid lesions and 22 solid lesions. The time of the dual localisation procedure was 13.1 ± 4.8 (7-23) min. Complications of the marking were pneumothorax in nine patients, and intrapulmonary bleeding in three. One hookwire dislodged during the operation. All nodules were successfully resected under needlescopy without conversion to a conventional thoracoscopy (5 mm or 10 mm thoracoscopy) or a minithoracotomy. There was no complication related to needlescopy-assisted resection. Dual marking with hookwire and lipiodol is a safe and none time consuming procedure, and needlescopy-assisted lung resection for small nodules is technically feasible and useful for histological diagnosis and treatment.

Impalpable pulmonary nodules with ground-glass opacity: Success for making pathologic sections with preoperative marking by lipiodol.

BACKGROUND: The developments in high-resolution CT scanning have increased the chance of detecting small bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) or atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) that appears as a ground-glass opacity (GGO). However, these lesions are not only difficult to localize during surgery, but they are also hard to make pathologic sections of because they are usually impalpable. Here, we report a method of making pathologic sections for impalpable GGO lesions. METHODS: Twenty-nine impalpable GGO lesions < 1 cm in size were marked by 0.4 to 0.5 mL of lipiodol under CT scan before surgery. The lesions were resected under C-arm fluoroscopy. The radiopaque areas marked by lipiodol within the formalin-fixed specimens were cut serially under conventional fluoroscopy for pathologic examinations. RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) size of the lesions was 0.5 +/- 0.2 cm (range, 0.2 to 1 cm), and the mean depth from the pleural surface was 1.6 +/- 1.4 cm (range, 0.2 to 6 cm). The mean number of sections submitted for pathologic examinations was 2.3 +/- 1.7 per lesion (range, 1 to 7 per lesion). While 11 of the 29 lesions (38%) were invisible even on the cut surface of the specimens, all were demonstrated in hematoxylin-eosin sections. The pathologic diagnosis was BAC in 17 lesions, AAH in 10 lesions, and organized pneumonia in 2 lesions. The use of lipiodol did not affect the pathologic findings. CONCLUSIONS: The use of fluoroscopy to cut sections from resected specimens after preoperative marking with lipiodol was useful for making pathologic sections of impalpable GGOs < 1 cm in size.

Standard PET/CT of the chest during shallow breathing is inadequate for comprehensive staging of lung cancer.

UNLABELLED: The incidence of malignancy associated with subcentimeter pulmonary nodules (micronodules) in patients with malignant disease has been reported to be as high as 58%. Thus, detection of small lung nodules is important for appropriate staging of lung cancer. Because of respiratory motion, small parenchymal lung lesions can be missed on CT acquired during shallow breathing. Micronodules are usually too small to be characterized reliably with 18F-FDG PET. We aimed to determine the incidence of missed pulmonary micronodules on PET/CT studies acquired during shallow breathing. METHODS: The study included 142 consecutive cancer patients (62 male and 80 female; mean age, 54 y) who underwent whole-body PET/CT during shallow breathing and breath-hold CT of the chest during maximal inspiration. CT findings were reviewed independently, and noncalcified nodules missed on the shallow-breathing scan were evaluated for size, location, and metabolic activity. RESULTS: Breath-hold chest CT detected an additional 125 parenchymal lung nodules (mean size, 3.4 +/- 1.6 mm; range, 1-9 mm) in 48 (34%) of the 142 patients. In these patients, 3 nodules, on average, were missed during shallow breathing. In 18 patients (13%), micronodules were identified exclusively on breath-hold images. None of the missed nodules demonstrated 18F-FDG uptake. CONCLUSION: Acquisition of standard PET/CT chest images during shallow breathing is inadequate for comprehensive cancer staging.