Table 1. Studies that evaluated the natural course of pulmonary ground-glass opacity nodules.
| Study (author, year, reference no.) | Sample size | Number of GGNs | Inclusion criteria | Follow-up duration | Nodules with growth | Number of nodules with pathologic diagnosis or treatment | Pathologic diagnosis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiramatsu, 2008 (4) | 125 | 125 | GGNs that were stable for 3 months | Mean of 1,048 days | 26/125 (21%) | 9 of 26 with growth 5: lobectomy 2: segmentectomy 1: percutaneous biopsy 1: transbronchial biopsy |
2 BAC 6 invasive adenocarcinomas 1 organizing pneumonia |
| Silva, 2012 (5) | 56 | 76 | GGNs with a solid component ≤5 mm | Mean of 50.3 months | 20/76 (26.3%) | 1 of 20 with growth 1: resection |
1 invasive adenocarcinoma |
| Matsuguma, 2013 (6) | 171 | 174 | GGNs ≤20 mm with a proportion of GGO >20% | Mean of 29 months | 41/174 (23.6%) | 56 of 174 21: lobectomy 15: segmentectomy 20: wedge resection |
3 AAH 36 AIS 11 MIA 6 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Kobayashi, 2013 (7) | 61 | 108 | GGNs ≤30 mm with a proportion of GGO ≥50% | Median of 4.2 years | 29/108 (26.9%) | 26 of 108 (in 21 patients) 5: lobectomy 10: segmentectomy 6: wedge resection |
1 AAH 1 AAH/AIS 10 AIS 1 AIS/MIA 8 MIA 5 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Chang, 2013 (8) | 89 | 122 | Pure GGNs | Median of 59 months | 12/122 (9.8%) | 11 of 12 with growth 8: lobectomy 3: wedge resection |
2 AIS 6 MIA 3 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Lee, 2013 (9) | 114 | 175 | Any GGNs | Median of 45 months | 46/175 (26.3%) | 29 of 175 29: pathologic confirm (modalities NA) |
1 AAH 3 AIS 11 MIA 11 invasive adenocarcinomas 1 pleomorphic carcinoma 2 interstitial fibrosis |
| Eguchi, 2014 (10) | 124 | 124 | Pure GGNs | Median of 57 months | 64/124 (51.6%) | 34 of 124 33: resection 1: stereotactic irradiation |
5 AIS 15 MIA 12 invasive adenocarcinomas 1 capillary hemangiomatosis |
| Scholten, 2015 (11) | 98 | 101 | Any GGNs | Median of 95 months | 79/101 (78.2%) | 32 of 101 32: resection |
8 AIS 19 invasive adenocarcinomas 5 benign |
| Kakinuma, 2015 (12) | NA | 439 | Pure GGNs ≤5 mm | Median of 6 years | 45/439 (10.3%) | 5 of 439 5: resection |
1 AAH 2 MIA 2 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Cho, 2016 (13) | 218 | 453 | GGNs that were stable for 3 years | Median of 77.5 months | 15/453 (3.3%) | 7 of 15 with growth 7: resection |
2 MIA 5 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Lee, 2016 (14) | 213 | 213 | GGNs with 5–30 mm in diameter with solid component ≤5 mm | Median of 849 days | 42/213 (19.7%) | 58 of 213 58: resection |
9 AAH 30 AIS 5 MIA 14 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Kakinuma, 2016 (15) | 795 | 1,229 | GGNs ≤30 mm with a solid component ≤5 mm | Mean of 4.3 years | 5-year probability of growth: 14% for pure-GGNs 24% for HGGNs 48% for part-solid nodules |
91 of 1229 (in 80 patients) 25: lobectomy 22: segmentectomy 33: wedge resection |
6 AAH 33 AIS 40 MIA 12 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Sato, 2017 (16) | 187 | 187 | GGNs ≤30 mm with a proportion of GGO ≥50% | Median of 45.5 months | 49 (26.2%) at 36 months 13 (7.0%) after 36 months |
45 of 187 32: resection 13: radiation therapy |
5 AAH/AIS/MIA 25 invasive adenocarcinomas 2 NA |
| Tang, 2019 (17) | 128 | 128 | GGNs ≤30 mm | Mean of 3.6 years | 60/128 (46.9%) | 62 of 128 62: resection |
1 AAH 4 AIS 9 MIA 48 invasive adenocarcinomas |
| Lee, 2019 (18) | 160 | 208 | GGNs ≤30 mm that were stable for 5 years | Median of 136 months | 27/208 (13.0%) | 3 of 27 with growth 3: pathologic confirm (modalities NA) |
1 AIS 1 MIA 1 invasive adenocarcinoma |
GGN, ground-glass opacity nodule; GGO, ground-glass opacity; NA, not available; HGGN, heterogeneous ground-glass nodule; BAC, bronchioalveolar carcinoma; AAH, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia; AIS, adenocarcinoma in situ; MIA, minimally invasive adenocarcinoma.