The correlation study of ground glass opacity and lepidic growth pattern component in stage I lung invasive adenocarcinoma

Objective: To investigate the correlation between Ground Glass Opacity (GGO) component proportion and quantitative classification of lepidic growth pattern in pathological stage Ⅰpulmonary adenocarcinoma. Methods: Pathological and HRCT data of 183 stage Ⅰ invasive adenocarcinoma patients from January 2005 to December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. The proportion of GGO was calculated from diameter and volume.The correlation between GGO component proportion and lepidic growth pattern in pathological were analyzed by Spearman correlation. Results: Among 183 patients, the proportion of GGO component calculated by maximum diameter method and three-dimensional computerized quantification was 0.43±0.35 and 0.20±0.18, respectively. The percentage of lepidic growth pattern component using semi-quantitative analysis of pathological sections was 0.29±0.25.The proportion of GGO by diameter and three-dimensional computerized quantification was significantly correlated with the percentage of lepidic growth pattern component (r=0.599, P< 0.001; r=0.620, P<0.001). Conclusions: There was a positive correlation between the content of lepidic growth pattern and the content of GGO in the small adenocarcinoma. Three-dimensional computerized quantification was a better method in preoperational evaluation.