Lung Cancer: Clinical Aspects

Published on 12/06/2015 by admin

Filed under Pulmolory and Respiratory

Last modified 22/04/2025

Print this page

rate 1 star rate 2 star rate 3 star rate 4 star rate 5 star
Your rating: none, Average: 0 (0 votes)

This article have been viewed 1599 times

21

Lung Cancer

Clinical Aspects

The goal of this chapter is to extend the discussion of lung cancer into the clinical realm and relate how the pathologic processes considered in Chapter 20 are encountered in a clinical setting. An outline of the major clinical features of lung cancer is followed by a discussion of the diagnostic approach and general principles of management. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of bronchial carcinoid tumors, malignant mesothelioma, and the clinical problem of the solitary pulmonary nodule.

Clinical Features

Because lung cancer presumably starts with a single malignant cell, a long period of repetitive divisions and doubling of cell number must occur before the tumor becomes clinically apparent. During this preclinical period, an estimated 30 divisions take place before the tumor reaches a diameter of 1 cm. This process most likely requires a number of years, during which time the patient and physician are unaware of the tumor.

In general, the possibility of lung cancer is raised because of findings on imaging studies (chest radiography or computed tomography [CT]) or because of an assortment of symptoms that may ensue. This section focuses primarily on symptoms; imaging studies and diagnostic sampling are discussed under Diagnostic Approach. The symptoms at the time of presentation may relate to the primary lung lesion, to metastatic disease (either in intrathoracic lymph nodes or at distant sites), or to what are commonly called “paraneoplastic syndromes.”

Symptoms Relating to Primary Lung Lesion

Perhaps the most common symptoms associated with lung cancer are cough and hemoptysis. Because bronchogenic carcinoma generally develops in smokers, these patients often dismiss their symptoms (particularly cough) as routine complications of smoking and chronic bronchitis. With tumors originating in large airways (e.g., squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma), patients may also have problems related to bronchial obstruction, such as pneumonia behind the obstruction or shortness of breath secondary to occlusion of a major bronchus. In contrast, with tumors that arise in the periphery of the lung, including many adenocarcinomas and large cell carcinomas, patients tend not to have symptoms related to bronchial involvement, and their lesions are often found on a chest radiograph obtained for unrelated purposes. With all types of advanced lung cancers, constitutional symptoms such as malaise, anorexia, and weight loss occur frequently but are nonspecific.

When tumors involve the pleural surface, either by direct extension or metastatic spread, patients may have chest pain, often pleuritic in nature, or dyspnea resulting from substantial accumulation of pleural fluid. Other adjacent structures, particularly the heart and esophagus, can be involved by direct invasion or extrinsic compression by the tumor. Resulting complications include pericardial effusion, cardiac dysrhythmias, and dysphagia.

Tumors originating in the most apical portion of the lung, which are called superior sulcus or Pancoast tumors, often produce a characteristic constellation of symptoms and physical findings caused by direct extension to adjacent structures. Involvement of the nerves comprising the brachial plexus can result in pain and weakness of the shoulder and arm. Involvement of the cervical sympathetic chain produces the typical features of Horner syndrome—ptosis (drooping upper eyelid), miosis (constricted pupil), and anhidrosis (loss of sweat) over the forehead and face—all occurring on the same side as the lung mass. Invasion of neighboring bony structures (e.g., ribs, vertebrae) is a common complication.

Potential clinical problems with lung cancer are:

Symptoms Relating to Nodal and Distant Metastasis

When the mediastinum has metastatic lymph nodes from a primary lung cancer, symptoms often arise from invasion or compression of important structures within the mediastinum, such as the phrenic nerve, recurrent laryngeal nerve, and superior vena cava. As a consequence, the following conditions, respectively, may develop: diaphragmatic paralysis (often with accompanying dyspnea), vocal cord paralysis (with hoarseness), and superior vena cava obstruction (with edema of the face and upper extremities resulting from obstruction to venous return).

Distant metastases, most commonly to the brain, bone or bone marrow, liver, and adrenal gland(s), frequently are asymptomatic. In other cases, symptoms depend on the particular organ system involved. Small cell carcinoma is the cell type most likely to generate distant metastases (see Chapter 20). Squamous cell carcinoma is least likely, and both adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma occupy an intermediate position.

Paraneoplastic Syndromes

Many lung tumors are capable of producing clinical syndromes not readily attributable to the space-occupying nature of the tumor or to direct invasion of other structures or organs. These syndromes are sometimes called the “paraneoplastic” manifestations of malignancy and frequently are due to production of a hormone or a hormonelike substance by the tumor. When a detectable hormone is produced by the lung tumor (or, for that matter, by any type of tumor), the patient is said to have “ectopic” hormone production. Sometimes clinical symptoms result from high circulating levels of the hormone; in other cases, only sensitive techniques of measurement are capable of demonstrating production of the hormone.

Why some tumors are capable of hormone production is not clear. Genetic information coding for the particular hormone is present but not expressed in the normal nonmalignant cell. In the course of becoming malignant, the cell presumably undergoes a process of gene dysregulation during which it regains the ability to express this normally silent genetic material coding for hormone production.

The cell type most frequently associated with ectopic production of humoral substances is small cell carcinoma, apparently because of its similarity or relationship to a type of neuroendocrine cell in the airway (the Kulchitsky cell) with secretory granules and the potential for peptide synthesis. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and antidiuretic hormone (ADH) are the best-described hormones produced by small cell carcinoma, potentially giving rise to the ectopic ACTH syndrome or to the syndrome of inappropriate ADH (SIADH), respectively. Squamous cell carcinoma is capable of causing hypercalcemia, which results from production of parathyroid hormone–related peptide, a peptide with parathyroid hormone–like activity. Production of other hormones, such as calcitonin and human chorionic gonadotropin, are also well described with bronchogenic carcinoma.

Other paraneoplastic syndromes cannot be attributed to a known hormone, and our understanding of their mechanisms varies. Examples range from a wide variety of neurologic syndromes (some of which appear to be due to autoimmune antibody production) to the soft tissue and bony manifestations of clubbing and hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (see Chapter 3). The nonspecific systemic effects of malignancy, such as anorexia, weight loss, and fatigue, are potential consequences of lung cancer, and it has been hypothesized that production of various mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor, may mediate these systemic effects.

Diagnostic Approach

A wide variety of diagnostic methods are used in evaluating cases of known or suspected lung cancer. Many studies assessing the lung on a macroscopic level aim to demonstrate the presence, location, and probability of spread of a bronchogenic carcinoma. Evaluation on a microscopic level is essential for defining the pathologic type of lung cancer, an important factor in determining what modalities of therapy are most appropriate. Functional assessment of the patient with lung cancer plays a role primarily in quantifying the severity of underlying lung disease, particularly chronic obstructive lung disease resulting from prior heavy smoking. Knowledge of a patient’s functional limitation from lung disease is essential before the clinician can decide whether operative removal of a lung cancer is even feasible without precipitating disabling respiratory insufficiency.

Macroscopic Evaluation

The initial test for detection and macroscopic evaluation of bronchogenic carcinoma is generally the chest radiograph. The presence of a nodule or mass within the lung on chest radiograph always raises the question of lung cancer, especially when the patient has a history of heavy smoking. The location of the lesion may give an indirect clue about its histology: peripheral lesions are more likely to be adenocarcinoma or large cell carcinoma, whereas central lesions are statistically more likely to be squamous cell carcinoma or small cell carcinoma (Figs. 21-1 and 21-2). The chest radiograph is also useful for determining the presence of additional suspicious lesions, such as a second primary tumor or metastatic spread from the original carcinoma. Involvement of hilar or mediastinal nodes or the pleura (with resulting pleural effusion) may be detected on the chest radiograph, and such a finding will substantially affect the overall approach to therapy.

CT has become a standard part of the diagnostic evaluation of patients with lung cancer. Besides helping to define the location, extent, and spread of tumor within the chest, this technique has been particularly useful for detecting enlarged, potentially malignant lymph nodes within the mediastinum, which are often not seen with conventional radiography. However, even though CT effectively identifies enlarged mediastinal nodes, it cannot definitively determine whether such nodes simply are hyperplastic or are enlarged because of tumor involvement. Consequently, histologic sampling of enlarged mediastinal nodes still is necessary to confirm tumor involvement of the nodes.

A newer technique that has gained increasing popularity in the evaluation of patients with known or suspected lung cancer is positron emission tomography (PET; see Chapter 3). Because of their high metabolic activity, malignant lesions typically exhibit high uptake of the radiolabeled glucose analog 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Focal uptake in the region of a parenchymal nodule or mass suggests the lesion is malignant, and uptake in the mediastinum or at distant sites often reflects spread of the tumor to those sites. However, other metabolically active lesions (e.g., focal areas of infection) may also show FDG uptake, so a positive PET scan in the appropriate clinical scenario is very suggestive but is not diagnostic of malignancy.

The best way to directly examine the airways of a patient with presumed or known bronchogenic carcinoma is by bronchoscopy with either a rigid or, much more frequently, a flexible bronchoscope (see Chapter 3). The location and intrabronchial extent of many tumors can be directly observed, and samples can be obtained from the lesion, either for cytologic or histopathologic examination. In addition, the bronchoscopist can assess whether an intrabronchial carcinoma is impinging significantly on the bronchial lumen and causing either partial or complete airway occlusion. Diagnostic specimens can be obtained in many cases even when the lesion is beyond direct visualization with the bronchoscope. In recent years, significant technologic advances in bronchoscopy, such as endobronchial ultrasound and electromagnetic navigation techniques, have increased the diagnostic yield of the procedure for lesions that are difficult to sample by direct visual or fluoroscopic guidance alone.

Staging of Lung Cancer

After a tumor has been documented, evaluation of the extent and spread (staging) of the malignancy is performed. In the case of non–small cell carcinoma of the lung (i.e., all cell types other than small cell carcinoma), staging is based on (1) the primary intrathoracic tumor—its size, location, and local complications, such as direct extension to adjacent structures or obstruction of the airway lumen; (2) the presence or absence of tumor within hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes; and (3) the distant spread of tumor to other tissues or organ systems. In the case of small cell carcinoma, the disease is classified as either limited (localized within one hemithorax) or extensive (beyond the limits of one hemithorax).

Basis for staging of non–small cell lung cancer includes:

The first component of staging, taking into account characteristics of the primary tumor itself, is generally accomplished with a combination of chest radiography and bronchoscopy, sometimes with additional information obtained from CT or MRI.

The second component, based on involvement of mediastinal lymph nodes by tumor, is typically initially assessed by CT, sometimes complemented by PET. Definitive evaluation has generally been based on direct examination (and biopsy) of the nodes by either mediastinoscopy or mediastinotomy. In suprasternal mediastinoscopy, the mediastinum is visualized with a scope placed through an incision made just above the sternal notch. Biopsy specimens can be obtained by this technique if there is any suspicion that abnormal nodes are present. In parasternal mediastinotomy, the mediastinum is examined through a small incision made adjacent to the sternum, and samples of suspicious nodes can be taken. In selected cases, transbronchial needle aspiration is an option for needle sampling of cellular material from lymph nodes adjacent to major airways. This technique, which is performed as part of flexible bronchoscopy, is especially useful for sampling nodes in the subcarinal region. The development of real-time ultrasound and CT guidance for transbronchoscopic needle aspiration is making this approach more useful for sampling lymph nodes in other areas of the thorax as well. Ultrasound-guided biopsy of certain mediastinal lymph nodes can best be performed via an endoscope introduced into the esophagus rather than the tracheobronchial tree.

The third component involves determining whether the tumor has disseminated to distant sites. A careful history and physical examination is the first step in the evaluation for metastatic disease. Spread of a lung tumor to other organs is often documented with either radioisotope or CT scanning. If available, a total body PET scan will often indicate sites of distant metastasis in the bones, liver, and adrenal glands. If PET is unavailable, metastatic disease in bone can be well demonstrated with radioisotope bone scanning. CT is particularly suitable for detection of metastases to the liver, brain, and adrenal glands. Importantly, PET is not very useful for assessing intracranial metastasis, because brain tissue is so metabolically active at baseline that distinguishing between a metastasis and surrounding normal brain tissue is difficult. CT or MRI are best for detecting intracranial metastasis.

Microscopic Evaluation

Evaluating lung cancer on a microscopic level is crucial for establishing the specific cell type of the tumor. Some techniques used were mentioned briefly in Chapter 3. Specimens are obtained either for cytologic examination of abnormal cells shed from the tumor or for histopathologic examination of a biopsy specimen obtained directly from the lesion. Cytologic examination can be performed on sputum, washings or brushings obtained through a bronchoscope, or material aspirated from the tumor with a small-gauge needle. Biopsy material can be obtained by passing a biopsy forceps through a bronchoscope, using a cutting needle passed through the chest wall directly into the tumor, or directly sampling tissue at the time of a surgical procedure. Staining techniques for processing these materials are discussed in Chapter 3.

Functional Assessment

Functional assessment of the patient with lung cancer provides important information that can guide the clinician in the choice of treatment. As discussed under Principles of Therapy, surgery is usually the procedure of choice if staging techniques have shown the disease is limited and potentially surgically resectable. However, when surgery is performed, usually a lobe and sometimes an entire lung must be removed. Because patients are generally smokers, they are at high risk for having significant underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and may not tolerate removal of a substantial amount of lung tissue. Helpful studies for the clinician to use in evaluating patients are spirometry and sometimes other tests to determine exercise tolerance or the relative amount of function contributed by the area of lung to be removed. Further specification of guidelines precluding surgery is beyond the scope of this chapter but may be found in the References.

Assessment of pulmonary function helps determine whether surgical resection can be tolerated by the functionally compromised patient.

Diagnostic Screening for Lung Cancer

Given that the likelihood of curing lung cancer through surgical resection is greatest when the lesion has not yet metastasized to lymph nodes or distant sites, it seems logical that screening high-risk individuals for early small lesions that have not yet caused symptoms would improve overall survival. Nevertheless, controlled studies of sputum cytology and chest radiography in a high-risk population of smokers have not demonstrated improved mortality from lung cancer with use of these screening techniques. As a result and despite some methodological problems with these studies, routine screening of high-risk current or former smokers by sputum cytology or chest radiography is not recommended.

Low-dose helical chest CT is more sensitive than chest radiography for detecting small lung cancers. In 2011, data from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed a reduction in lung cancer and all-cause mortality among high-risk patients screened with CT. However, the CT scans also detected many benign lesions, resulting in additional diagnostic procedures with associated costs and some morbidity. In light of the NLST data, at the time of this edition, lung cancer screening recommendations are being updated by expert groups such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American Cancer Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, with a number of these organizations now recommending low-dose CT screening for patients who meet the NLST criteria..

Principles of Therapy

Many advances in treating a variety of malignancies have been made over the last 3 decades, but patients with lung cancer have seen only minor improvement in their prognosis during the same time. Five-year survival of all patients with lung cancer is about 14%, a dismal overall outlook.

The three major forms of treatment available for lung cancer are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. During the past 10 to 15 years, somewhat more radical approaches have been used, particularly combination modalities of therapy. General guidelines for the clinician suggest when and how to use these modalities, but what therapy or combination of therapies will prove most beneficial for a given patient often is not known with certainty. The primary factors that determine how a particular tumor should be treated are its staging (i.e., size, location, and extent of spread) and its cell type and genetics.

According to current practices for the treatment of bronchogenic carcinoma, surgery is the treatment of choice for localized tumors. When the tumor has extended directly to the pleura (with malignant cells found in the pleural fluid) or adjacent mediastinum, the tumor is usually considered unresectable, and alternative therapy is used. Similarly, when contralateral mediastinal nodes are involved, the tumor is generally considered to have spread sufficiently such that it has become unresectable. At present, there is great interest in trying to determine the best modes of therapy for patients in whom the benefit of surgery is debatable, such as patients with ipsilateral mediastinal node or chest wall involvement. Combining surgery with another modality, either chemotherapy or radiation therapy, has been a promising approach to this subcategory of patients. Finally, if metastases to distant tissues or organs have occurred, surgery almost invariably is not an appropriate form of therapy.

Cell type is an important consideration in making decisions about management. Small cell carcinoma has a high likelihood of having already metastasized by the time it is detected, so surgery is not considered the treatment of choice unless the particular small cell tumor is a solitary peripheral nodule without any evidence of mediastinal or distant spread. In the more usual presentation of small cell carcinoma as a central mass, unresectable disease is virtually universal, and chemotherapy (with or without radiotherapy) is considered the primary mode of therapy.

When a non–small cell tumor is unresectable on the basis of any criteria, the clinician is faced with a choice of no treatment, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. The final choice is often highly individual, depending not only on the particular tumor but also on the patient’s and physician’s preferences.

Chemotherapy has traditionally employed cytotoxic platinum-based regimens. More recently, very successful results have been obtained in some patients whose tumors contain activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) when such patients are administered inhibitors of EGFR tyrosine kinase, such as erlotinib and gefitinib. Because responses are generally limited to tumors containing certain EGFR mutations, molecular genetic typing of non–small cell tumors is now performed with increasing frequency, particularly among patients with adenocarcinomas.

In some cases, radiation therapy treatments are instituted early in an attempt to shrink the tumor and delay local complications. In other circumstances, therapy is withheld until a complication ensues, such as bleeding or airway obstruction. Radiation treatments are then given, with the goal of palliation or tumor size reduction for temporary alleviation of the acute problem. Unfortunately, by definition palliation is not curative therapy, and further problems with the tumor are certain to develop.

Other palliative forms of therapy are being used to establish patency of an airway that has been partially or completely occluded or compressed by tumor. The treatment is typically accomplished with either flexible or rigid bronchoscopy, using techniques such as laser, argon plasma coagulation, photodynamic therapy, cryotherapy, or electrocautery to diminish the size of the endobronchial tumor and reestablish an effective lumen. Alternatively or as a combined approach used in addition to these techniques, an endobronchial stent (i.e., a hollow and relatively rigid plastic or metal sheath) can be positioned within the airway lumen to maintain airway patency.

Overall 5-year survival in patients with carcinoma of the lung is less than 15%. Patients who survive had localized disease at presentation and were amenable to surgical therapy. In this latter group, 5-year survival approaches 50%.

Table 21-1 summarizes many of the specific features of lung cancer discussed in both this chapter and Chapter 20. Each of the major cell types is considered separately, with emphasis on clinical, radiographic, and therapeutic aspects of each category of tumor.

Bronchial Carcinoid Tumors

In the past, bronchial carcinoid tumors were called bronchial adenomas because they were thought to represent a benign or adenomatous form of neoplasm involving the bronchial tree. In fact, although many patients with these tumors have an excellent prognosis and are cured by surgical removal, it is more accurate to view these tumors as low-grade malignancies, and they are currently classified as such. They constitute less than 5% of primary lung tumors. The lung is the second most common site in which carcinoid tumors develop, following the gastrointestinal tract.

Bronchial carcinoid tumors arise most commonly in relatively central airways of the tracheobronchial tree. Although the cell of origin is not known with certainty, these tumors have been postulated to arise from the neurosecretory Kulchitsky cells (K cells). Alternatively, they may arise from undifferentiated stem cells within the airway wall. Bronchial carcinoid tumors also have been suggested to represent a more benign variant of small cell carcinoma, which some pathologists consider to also arise from K cells. In some carcinoid tumors, the histology has atypical features more suggestive of frank malignancy; these tumors have a poorer overall prognosis than those without such features.

Two important epidemiologic features distinguish bronchial carcinoid tumors from the other pulmonary neoplasms discussed here. First, smoking does not appear to be a significant risk factor. Second, as a group, patients with bronchial carcinoid tumors are younger than those with other pulmonary malignancies; frequently, young adults are affected.

Bronchial carcinoid tumors are often discovered as a result of an abnormal chest radiograph obtained for unrelated reasons or following an episode of hemoptysis or a pneumonia that develops distal to an obstructing airway tumor. Ectopic production of hormones such as ACTH may be found, probably relating to the presumed neurosecretory origin of the neoplastic cells. Carcinoid syndrome, generally involving episodic flushing, diarrhea, and wheezing that results from the effects of serotonin produced by the tumor, is uncommon, found in less than 5% of all cases of bronchial carcinoid tumors.

Treatment of these tumors is surgical resection if at all possible. For many patients the prognosis is excellent, and recurrent or distant disease does not occur after surgical removal. However, metastatic disease is found more commonly in patients whose tumors have atypical histology, and their prognosis is worse.

Common features of bronchial carcinoid tumors are:

Malignant Mesothelioma

Unlike the other tumors discussed, malignant mesothelioma arises from and primarily involves the pleura rather than the airways or pulmonary parenchyma. Like bronchial carcinoid tumors, smoking is not a risk factor. Malignant mesothelioma is relatively uncommon but is important at least partially because in many cases, a specific etiologic factor can be identified.

The primary risk factor for development of malignant mesothelioma is a history of exposure to asbestos, generally in the range of 30 to 40 years earlier. Individuals who have worked in jobs that exposed them to asbestos (see Chapter 20) are at highest risk, but heavy exposure is not necessary for predisposing a person to malignant mesothelioma. In fact, mesothelioma develops even in spouses of asbestos workers, presumably because of inhalation of asbestos dust while exposed to their partners’ clothes.

In patients with malignant mesothelioma, the main symptoms are chest pain, dyspnea, and possibly cough. A number of paraneoplastic syndromes may occur, including disseminated intravascular coagulation, migratory thrombophlebitis, hemolytic anemia, hypoglycemia, and hypercalcemia. The chest radiograph is usually most notable for the presence of pleural fluid and often irregular or lobulated thickening of the pleura (Fig. 21-3). Only a minority of patients have evidence of asbestosis, the interstitial lung disease associated with asbestos exposure. Diagnosis requires biopsy of the pleura and histologic demonstration of the malignancy. Because the tumor originates in the pleura and does not directly communicate with airways, malignant cells are not shed into the tracheobronchial tree and cannot be found on cytologic examination of sputum or bronchoscopy specimens.

Mesothelioma is suggested by pleural fluid, irregular or lobulated pleural thickening, and a distant history of asbestos exposure.

The prognosis for malignant mesothelioma is poor. The tumor eventually entraps the lung and spreads to mediastinal structures. Death generally results from respiratory failure. No clearly effective form of therapy is available, and fewer than 10% of patients survive 3 years. A radical surgical approach, extrapleural pneumonectomy, has been used in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. This procedure involves removal of the entire ipsilateral lung along with both the visceral and parietal pleura. Alternatively, obliteration of the pleural space (pleurodesis) with a sclerosing agent can be performed in an attempt to prevent reaccumulation of large amounts of pleural fluid. Because of the poor prognosis, mesothelioma has become a target for a variety of new types of investigational therapy, including immunotherapy, use of biological response modifiers (e.g., interferons and interleukin-2), molecularly targeted agents, and gene therapy.

Solitary Pulmonary Nodule

Although the solitary pulmonary nodule on chest radiograph (defined as a single rounded lesion ≤3 cm in diameter) is a common presentation of lung cancer, there is actually a broad differential diagnosis for this radiographic abnormality. The physician is faced with judging the likelihood a nodule is malignant and choosing the appropriate pathway for diagnosis and management. Because lung cancer that manifests as a pulmonary nodule may be curable by surgical resection, management of such a lesion should not be neglected until the lesion is no longer curable. On the other hand, to subject a patient to a surgical procedure for removal of a benign lesion requiring no therapy is likewise undesirable.

Diagnostic possibilities for the solitary pulmonary nodule are listed in Table 21-2. Besides primary lung cancer, the major alternative diagnoses are benign pulmonary neoplasms, solitary metastases to the lung from a distant primary carcinoma, and infections (especially healed granulomatous lesions from tuberculosis or fungal disease). Estimating the likelihood of a malignant versus a benign lesion from its radiographic appearance is based on three major factors:

1. Growth. Perhaps the most helpful piece of information a physician can have is a prior chest radiograph. Comparison of old and new films shows whether a lesion is stable and gives an approximation of the rate of growth. Although it is difficult to say with certainty whether a lesion is benign or malignant based on the rate of growth, absence of any increase in size for at least 2 years is an extremely good (but not infallible) indication a lesion is benign.

2. Calcification. The presence of calcification within a pulmonary nodule, best demonstrated on CT scan, may favor the diagnosis of a benign lesion, especially a granuloma or hamartoma. If certain patterns of calcification are found—diffuse speckling, dense calcification, laminated (onion-skin) calcification, or “popcorn” calcification—the lesion almost assuredly is benign. On the other hand, calcification at the periphery of a lesion or amorphous calcification within the lesion may be suggestive of malignancy. For example, a peripheral area of calcification is entirely consistent with a scar carcinoma arising in the region of an old calcified parenchymal scar (e.g., old calcified granuloma).

3. Border appearance. An irregular or spiculated margin is suggestive of a malignant lesion, whereas a benign lesion commonly has a smooth and discrete border.

Criteria for assessing the likelihood that a solitary pulmonary nodule is malignant are:

Additional clinical features may be more suggestive of a benign versus a malignant lesion but are somewhat less reliable. In individuals younger than 35 years, primary lung cancer is an unlikely but certainly not impossible diagnosis. A history of heavy smoking (and/or exposure to asbestos) carries high risk for a malignant lesion, but lack of a smoking history does not rule out the diagnosis of lung cancer, particularly a peripheral adenocarcinoma. Lesion size may be helpful because those larger than 3 cm in diameter (usually called masses rather than nodules when >3 cm) are much more likely to be malignant than nodules less than 2 cm in diameter. Finally, the presence of a previously diagnosed distant carcinoma obviously raises the possibility that a lung nodule is a metastatic focus of tumor.

The practical question of how to evaluate and manage these cases often is difficult, and the decision-making process must be individualized for each patient. A simple noninvasive test such as sputum cytologic examination is most helpful if results are positive, but the yield is low, even with peripheral nodules that are eventually proven to be carcinoma. Unless the lesion has been stable on chest radiograph for more than 2 years, chest CT scanning is performed routinely to look at border characteristics, assess the presence and pattern of calcification, and identify other abnormalities, especially lymph nodes within the mediastinum. An algorithm has been developed by the Fleischner Society to guide appropriate radiographic follow-up for a given patient, depending upon the size of the lesion and the patient’s risk factors for lung cancer. PET scanning (see Chapter 3), when available, is being performed increasingly when the diagnosis is uncertain after evaluation of the clinical information and other imaging studies. Uptake of labeled FDG suggests the lesion has high metabolic activity and could be malignant, whereas lack of uptake suggests a metabolically inactive benign lesion. Unfortunately, slower-growing malignant neoplasms may have PET characteristics that are similar to benign lesions.

More invasive procedures, such as percutaneous needle aspiration or biopsy and transbronchial biopsy (through a flexible bronchoscope), may be used in an attempt to make a histologic diagnosis. However, in many cases biopsy findings that are negative for malignancy do not obviate the need for surgery, because malignant cells may be missed by the limited sampling of a needle or biopsy forceps. A commonly used approach with a lesion suspicious for carcinoma is to proceed directly with resection, assuming no contraindications to surgery and no clinical evidence the lesion has spread elsewhere or has metastasized from a distant primary malignancy. Video-assisted thoracic surgery via thoracoscope, increasingly available since the early 1990s, is commonly used as a less invasive means of removing and therefore diagnosing small peripheral lung nodules. A more definitive resection (e.g., lobectomy), usually via thoracotomy, is then performed if the nodule is found to be malignant.

When lung cancer manifests as a solitary peripheral nodule, the prognosis is much better than for the general group of patients with lung cancer. As a result of frequently curative surgical resection, more than 50% of patients with an initial solitary peripheral lung cancer survive 5 years, compared with less than 15% of all lung cancer patients.

References

Lung Cancer: General Reviews and Clinical Aspects

American College of Chest Physicians. Diagnosis and management of lung cancer: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, 2nd ed. Chest. 2007;132(Suppl):1S–422S.

Ettinger, DS, Akerley, W, Bepler, G, et al. Non-small cell lung cancer. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2010;8:740–801.

Ganti, AK, Huang, CH, Klein, MA, et al. Lung cancer management in 2010. Oncology (Williston Park). 2011;25:64–73.

Ginsberg, MS, Grewal, RK, Heelan, RT. Lung cancer. Radiol Clin North Am. 2007;45:21–43.

Matthay, RM. Lung cancer. editor. Clin Chest Med. 2002;23:1–277.

Rodriguez, E, Lilenbaum, RC. Small cell lung cancer: past, present, and future. Curr Oncol Rep. 2010;12:327–334.

Spiro, SG, Silvestri, GA. One hundred years of lung cancer. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005;172:523–529.

Zalcman, G, Bergot, E, Lechapt, E. Update on nonsmall cell lung cancer. Eur Respir Rev. 2010;19:173–185.

Lung Cancer: Diagnostic Approaches

Alberts, WM. Diagnosis and management of lung cancer executive summary: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, 2nd ed. Chest. 2007;132:1S–19S.

Birim, O, Kappetein, AP, Stijnen, T, et al. Meta-analysis of positron emission tomographic and computed tomographic imaging in detecting mediastinal lymph node metastases in nonsmall cell lung cancer. Ann Thorac Surg. 2005;79:375–382.

Croswell, JM, Baker, SG, Marcus, PM, et al. Cumulative incidence of false-positive test results in lung cancer screening: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152:505–512.

Detterbeck, FC, Boffa, DJ, Tanoue, LT. The new lung cancer staging system. Chest. 2009;136:260–271.

Fischer, B, Lassen, U, Mortensen, J, et al. Preoperative staging of lung cancer with combined PET-CT. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:32–39.

Hollings, N, Shaw, P. Diagnostic imaging of lung cancer. Eur Respir J. 2002;19:722–742.

Lababede, O, Meziane, M, Rice, T. Seventh edition of the cancer staging manual and stage grouping of lung cancer: quick reference chart and diagrams. Chest. 2011;139:183–189.

Maziak, DE, Darling, GE, Inculet, RI, et al. Positron emission tomography in staging early lung cancer: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2009;151:221–228.

National Lung Screening Trial Research Team. Reduced lung-cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening. N Engl J Med. 2011;365:395–409.

Schmidlin, EJ, Sundaram, B, Kazerooni, EA. Computed tomography screening for lung cancer. Radiol Clin North Am. 2012;50:877–894.

Silvestri, GA, Gould, MK, Margolis, ML, et al. Noninvasive staging of small cell lung cancer: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, ed 2. Chest. 2007;132:178S–201S.

Wender, R, Fontham, ET, Barrera, E, Jr., et al. American Cancer Society lung cancer screening guidelines. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013. Jan 11

Lung Cancer: Treatment

Cataldo, VD, Gibbons, DL, Pérez-Soler, R, et al. Treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer with erlotinib or gefitinib. N Engl J Med. 2011;364:947–955.

Demedts, IK, Vermaelen, KY, van Meerbeeck, JP. Treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung carcinoma: current status and future prospects. Eur Respir J. 2010;35:202–215.

Ernst, A, Feller-Kopman, D, Becker, HD, et al. Central airway obstruction. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2004;169:1278–1297.

Maemondo, M, Inoue, A, Kobayashi, K, et al. Gefitinib or chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer with mutated EGFR. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:2380–2388.

Mazzone, PJ, Arroliga, AC. Lung cancer: preoperative pulmonary evaluation of the lung resection candidate. Am J Med. 2005;118:578–583.

Sculier, JP, Moro-Sibilot, D. First- and second-line therapy for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer. Eur Respir J. 2009;33:915–930.

Spira, A, Ettinger, DS. Multidisciplinary management of lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:379–392.

Temel, JS, Greer, JA, Muzikansky, A, et al. Early palliative care for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:733–742.

Visbal, AL, Leighl, NB, Feld, R, et al. Adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Chest. 2005;128:2933–2943.

Malignant Mesothelioma

Bagheri, R, Haghi, SZ, Rahim, MB, et al. Malignant pleural mesothelioma: clinicopathologic and survival characteristic in a consecutive series of 40 patients. Ann Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2011;17:130–136.

British Thoracic Society. BTS statement on malignant mesothelioma in the UK, 2007. Thorax. 2007;62(Suppl II):ii1–ii19.

Campbell, NP, Kindler, HL. Update on malignant pleural mesothelioma. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2011;32:102–110.

Fuhrer, G, Lazarus, AA. Mesothelioma. Dis Mon. 2011;57:40–54.

Robinson, BW, Lake, RA. Advances in malignant mesothelioma. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1591–1603.

Robinson, BW, Musk, AW, Lake, RA. Malignant mesothelioma. Lancet. 2005;366:397–408.

Scherpereel, A, Astoul, P, Baas, P, et al. Guidelines of the European Respiratory Society and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons for the management of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Eur Respir J. 2010;35:479–495.

Solitary Pulmonary Nodule

Jeong, YJ, Yi, CA, Lee, KS. Solitary pulmonary nodules: detection, characterization, and guidance for further diagnostic workup and treatment. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2007;188:57–68.

MacMahon, H, Austin, JH, Gamsu, G, et al. Guidelines for management of small pulmonary nodules detected on CT scans: a statement from the Fleischner Society. Radiology. 2005;237:395–400.

Ost, D, Fein, AM, Feinsilver, SH. Clinical practice. The solitary pulmonary nodule. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:2535–2542.

Ost, DE, Gould, MK. Decision making in patients with pulmonary nodules. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012;185:363–372.

van Klaveren, RJ, Oudkerk, M, Prokop, M, et al. Management of lung nodules detected by volume CT scanning. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:2221–2229.

Winer-Muram, HT. The solitary pulmonary nodule. Radiology. 2006;239:34–49.

Related posts:

Lung Defense Mechanisms Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Diseases Associated with Known Etiologic Agents Asthma Arterial Blood Gases: Guidelines for Interpretation and Sample Problems Pulmonary Anatomy and Physiology: The Basics