The impact of histology and ground-glass opacity component on volume doubling time in primary lung cancer.

Background: Correlations between volume doubling time (VDT) of primary lung cancer (PLC), histology, and ground glass opacity (GGO) components remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare VDT of PLC in terms of histology and presence or absence of GGO components.

Methods: A total of 371 surgically resected PLCs from 2003 to 2015 in our institute were retrospectively reviewed. The VDT was calculated both from the diameters of the entire tumor and of consolidation by using the approximation formula of Schwartz.

Results: The median VDTs of adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and others (large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas, small cell lung carcinomas, pulmonary pleomorphic carcinomas, and large cell carcinomas combined) were 261, 70, and 70 days, respectively; these differ significantly (P<0.001). All PLCs with GGO were adenocarcinomas. The VDT of adenocarcinomas with GGO was significantly longer than that of those without GGO (median VDT: 725 and 177 days, respectively), squamous cell carcinomas, and others. When the VDT calculated from the maximum diameter of consolidation component was compared, adenocarcinomas with GGO also showed significantly slower growth than those without GGO (median VDT: 248 versus 177 days, respectively, P=0.040).

Conclusions: The VDT of PLCs is longest for adenocarcinomas. VDT was significantly longer in adenocarcinomas with GGO components than in those without such components, irrespective of VDT calculated on the basis of either the entire tumor diameter or consolidation diameter.