Is a 5-mm diameter an appropriate cut-off value for the diagnosis of atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma in situ on chest computed tomography and pathological examination?

Background: Preinvasive lesions, such as atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH) and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), usually appear as pure ground-glass nodules (pGGNs) on thin-section computed tomography (TSCT). AAH is usually less than 5 mm wide on imaging and pathological examinations. We aimed to determine whether a 5-mm cut-off value was appropriate for the diagnosis of AAH and AIS.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the performance of TSCT in evaluating 80 pathologically confirmed preinvasive lesions (33 AAH lesions in 31 patients and 47 AIS lesions in 45 patients). We compared the following characteristics between the AAH and AIS groups: lesion diameter, density, rim, lobulation, spiculation, vacuole sign, aerated bronchus sign, pleural indentation sign, and pathological findings.

Results: All 80 lesions appeared as pGGNs. On TSCT, the average diameter of AAH lesions (6.0±1.64 mm) was significantly smaller than that of AIS lesions (8.7±3.16 mm; P<0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) for diameter was 0.792, and the best diagnostic cut-off value was 6.99 mm. On gross pathological examination, the average diameter of AAH lesions (4.6±1.99 mm) was significantly smaller that of AIS lesions (6.8±2.06 mm; P<0.001). The AUC was 0.794, and the best diagnostic cut-off value was 4.5 mm. The vacuole sign was common in AIS (P=0.021). AAH did not significantly differ from AIS (P>0.05) in terms of average CT value, uniformity of density, morphology, rim, lobulation, spiculation, pleural indentation sign, and aerated bronchus sign.

Conclusions: Lesion size and the vacuole sign were beneficial in the diagnosis of AAH and AIS. The vacuole sign was common in AIS. The best diagnostic cut-off value of nodular diameter for differentiating between AAH and AIS was 6.99 mm on TSCT and 4.5 mm on gross pathology.