Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the diagnosis and treatment of patients who had appearance of nodular ground- glass opacity (NGGO) on computerized tomographic (CT). We retrospectively analyzed 14 cases who appeared NGGO on thin section CT:  Male 5, female 9, aged from 31 to 76 years, average 56.3 years old; NGGO diameter was 1.0 to 3.0 cm, average 2.1 cm. Among all the cases, 12 patients have solid parts in the center, called mixed nodular ground- glass opacity (MNGGO). All the cases accepted operations of lobe resection, and were followed up for 4 to 24 months. The pathologic diagnosis of all the cases were malignant, 3 were adenocarcinoma while 11 were bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. All the cases did not find the metastasis of lymph node or far organ, and were alive in the period of following up. Most of the MNGGO were malignant, and it is better for the patients to receive an operation. For pure nodular ground-glass opacity (PNGGO), we suggested the patients should be followed up for 3 month; if the PNGGO did not absorbed, or even became larger, or started to consolidate, operation should be done as soon as possible.

Key words: Lung cancer, nodular ground-glass opacity, operation.