Table 2.
Pulmonary nodule evaluation versus final lung cancer outcome, stratified by baseline nodule size
| Nodule Size
|
Overall [n=300] |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ≤4 mm [n=57] |
5–8 mm [n=134] |
>8 mm [n=109] |
||
| Patients without any purposeful nodule evaluation | 7 (12%) | 10 (7%) | 6 (6%) | 23 (8%) |
| Patients who underwent nodule evaluation | 50 (88%) | 124 (93%) | 103 (95%) | 277 (92%) |
| Non-invasive work-up [n=277] | ||||
| Radiographic surveillance | ||||
| Median (range) duration of surveillance, months | 28 (0.5–90) | 12 (0.1–102) | 6 (0.1–90) | 13 (0.1–102) |
| Chest x-ray | ||||
| Patients who underwent test, n (%) | 11 (22%) | 54 (44%) | 60 (58%) | 125 (45%) |
| Median (range) tests per patient | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–6) | 1 (0–23) | 0 (0–23) |
| Total number of tests performed in group | 14 | 80 | 198 | 292 |
| Chest CT scan | ||||
| Patients who underwent test, n (%) | 44 (88%) | 90 (73%) | 81 (79%) | 215 (78%) |
| Median (range) tests per patient | 3 (0–9) | 2 (0–16) | 2 (0–11) | 2 (0–16) |
| Total number of tests performed in group | 144 | 299 | 267 | 710 |
| PET scan | ||||
| Patients who underwent test, n (%) | 0 (0%) | 7 (6%) | 26 (25%) | 33 (12%) |
| Median (range) tests per patient | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–4) | 0 (0–4) |
| Total number of tests performed in group | 0 | 9 | 33 | 42 |
| Patients referred for specialist consultation, n (%) | 12 (24%) | 37 (30%) | 50 (49%) | 99 (36%) |
| Median (range) consultations per patient | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–7) | 0 (0–7) |
| Total number of consults in group | 12 | 43 | 92 | 147 |
| Invasive work-up [n=46] | ||||
| Patients who underwent pre-invasive testing, n (%) | 1 (2%) | 4 (3%) | 12 (12%) | 17 (6%) |
| Total number of tests in group | 1 | 4 | 17 | 22 |
| Biopsy procedures* | ||||
| Patients who underwent any biopsy, n (%) | 2 (4%) | 10 (8%) | 34 (33%) | 46 (17%) |
| Median (range) number of biopsies per patient | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–4) | 0 (0–4) |
| Total biopsies performed in group | 3 | 10 | 63 | 76 |
| Surgical resection | ||||
| Wedge resection, n (%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 6 (6%) | 7 (3%) |
| Lobectomy, n (%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 6 (6%) | 6 (2%) |
| Patients hospitalized for invasive evaluation, n (%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | 17 (17%) | 18 (7%) |
| Median (range) hospitalizations per patient | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–3) | 0 (0–3) |
| Total number of hospitalizations in group | 0 | 1 | 20 | 21 |
|
| ||||
| Outcome: Patients diagnosed with lung cancer | 1 (2%) | 4 (3%) | 22 (20%) | 27 (9%) |
*
Biopsy procedures included bronchoscopy, transthoracic needle biopsy, mediastinoscopy, and other biopsy (e.g., supraclavicular lymph node resection)
Abbreviations: CT: computed tomography; PET: positron emission tomography