Objective To develop a preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale" based on the Delphi method, providing a tailored, standardized, normalized, and promotable symptomatic evaluation tool for the efficacy assessment of pulmonary nodule patients treated with traditional Chinese medicine or integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine interventions. Methods A preliminary pool of scale items was formed through literature review, interviews with doctors and patients, and reference to guidelines and consensus on pulmonary nodules and patient-reported outcome (PRO) scales related to lung cancer. Two rounds of expert consultation were conducted using the Delphi method. Based on the concentration and variation indicators of expert evaluations, and considering experts’ suggestions for specific item deletions and modifications, a core group meeting was held to screen and refine the scale items. Results Invitations were sent to 54 experts, with 51 accepting the consultation. The active coefficient for the first round of consultation was 94.4%, and for the second round, it was 100%. The average authority coefficient for the 51 experts was 0.896. The Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and the average coefficient of variation for the first and second rounds of consultation were 0.215 (P<0.001) and (0.34±0.07), 0.162 (P<0.001) and (0.24±0.05), respectively. Through two rounds of Delphi expert consultation, a preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale" covering 17 items across four dimensions - respiratory symptoms, systemic manifestations, psychological state, and overall assessment - was formed. Conclusion The experts participating in this Delphi consultation had high authority and enthusiasm, and they have a good level of acceptance and consistency for the preliminary "pulmonary nodule symptom scale". Subsequent empirical research will be conducted on a large sample cohort of pulmonary nodule patients to verify the scale’s stability and effectiveness.
ObjectiveTo explore the application value of CT-guided microcoil localization in pulmonary nodule (diameter≤15 mm) surgery.MethodsThe clinical data of 175 patients with pulmonary nodules who underwent single utility port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from August 2018 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to whether CT-guided coil localization was performed before operation, they were divided into a locating group and a non-locating group. There were 84 patients (34 males, 50 females, aged 57.8±8.8 years) in the locating group and 91 patients (46 males, 45 females, aged 57.6±10.8 years) in the non-locating group. The localization success rate, localization time, incidence of complications, surgical and postoperative conditions were analyzed between the two groups.ResultsAll 84 patients in the locating group were successfully located, and localization time was 19.0±3.6 minutes. Among them, 19 (22.6%) patients had a small pneumothorax, 4 (4.8%) pulmonary hemorrhage and 2 (2.4%) coil shift; 6 (7.1%) patients had mild pain, 3 (3.6%) moderate pain and 1 (1.2%) severe pain. Sex (P=0.181), age (P=0.673), nodule location (P=0.167), nature of lesion (P=0.244), rate of conversion to thoracotomy (P=0.414), rate of disposable resection of nodules (P=0.251) and postoperative hospital stay (P=0.207) were similar between the two groups. There were significant differences in nodule size (P<0.001), nature of nodule (P<0.001), the shortest distance from nodule to pleura (P<0.001), operation time (P<0.001), lung volume by wedge resection (P=0.031), number of staplers (P<0.001) and total hospitalization costs (P<0.001) between the two groups.ConclusionCT-guided microcoil localization has the characteristics of high success rate, and is simple, practicable, effective, safe and minimally invasive. Preoperative CT-guided microcoil localization has important clinical application value for small pulmonary nodules, especially those with small size, deep location and less solid components. It can effectively shorten the operation time, reduce surgical trauma and lower hospitalization costs, which is a preoperative localization technique worthy of popularization.
ObjectiveTo investigate the preoperative psychological state of patients with pulmonary nodules in order to make the content of the education more "individualized and humanized".MethodsWe conducted a consecutive questionnaire study for 107 patients who were planning to undergo pulmonary resection surgery from May 2018 to July 2018 in our department. There were 54 males and 53 females with an average age of 56.8±11.2 years. The questionnaire content included two parts: personal basic information and 20 questions about surgery, complications, follow-up and hospitalization expense.ResultsThere were 60.7% of the patients diagnosed with pulmonary nodules by CT scan during physical examination, and 52.3% of the patients had strong will to undergo pulmonary surgery to resect nodules; 64.5% of patients wanted doctors to tell them the extent of the disease and whether the tumor could be cured by surgery, and 30.0% of patients concerned whether chief surgeon would complete the whole surgery. The surgery risk and postoperative complications were ignored by patients easily (5.6% and 14.9% respectively). The hospital expenses were not the primary concern of patients. Only 1.9% of patients believed that doctors used nonessentials which deliberately led to increased costs. Network follow-up was accepted by most patients (94.4%).ConclusionIt will contribute to improve preoperative education rationality and effectiveness by understanding true psychological state of patients.
ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness and safety of electromagnetic navigation-guided localization and CT-guided percutaneous localization for pulmonary nodules.MethodsThe literature published from the inception to January 2021 about the comparison between electromagnetic navigation-guided localization and CT-guided percutaneous localization for pulmonary nodules in the PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMbase, Chinese Wanfang database and CNKI database was searched. RevMan (version 5.4) software was used for meta-analysis. Nonrandomized controlled trials were evaluated using methodological index for nonrandomized studies (MINORS).ResultsA total of six retrospective studies (567 patients) were included in this meta-analysis. MINORS scores of all studies were all 17 points and above. There were 317 patients in the CT-guided percutaneous localization group and 250 patients in the electromagnetic navigation-guided localization group. The complication rate of the CT-guided percutaneous localization group was significantly higher than that in the electromagnetic navigation-guided localization group (OR=11.08, 95%CI 3.35 to 36.65, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the success rate of localization (OR=0.48, 95%CI 0.16 to 1.48, P=0.20), localization time (MD=0.30, 95%CI –6.16 to 6.77, P=0.93) or nodule diameter (MD=–0.07, 95%CI –0.19 to 0.06, P=0.29) between the two groups.ConclusionElectromagnetic navigation can be used as an effective preoperative positioning method for pulmonary nodules, which has the advantage of lower complication rate compared with the traditional CT positioning method.
Objective To investigate the accuracy of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) combined with CT three-dimensional reconstruction (CT-3D) in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. Methods The clinical data of patients who underwent pulmonary nodule surgery in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital from July 2020 to August 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT and chest enhanced CT-3D and other imaging data were extracted. The parameters with diagnostic significance were screened by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Three prediction models, including PET/CT prediction model (MOD PET), CT-3D prediction model (MOD CT-3D), and PET/CT combined CT-3D prediction model (MOD combination), were established through binary logistic regression, and the diagnostic performance of the models were validated by ROC curve. Results A total of 125 patients were enrolled, including 57 males and 68 females, with an average age of 61.16±8.57 years. There were 46 patients with benign nodules, and 79 patients with malignant nodules. A total of 2 PET/CT parameters and 5 CT-3D parameters were extracted. Two PET/CT parameters, SUVmax≥1.5 (AUC=0.688) and abnormal uptake of hilar/mediastinal lymph node metabolism (AUC=0.671), were included in the regression model. Among the CT-3D parameters, CT value histogram peaks (AUC=0.694) and CT-3D morphology (AUC=0.652) were included in the regression model. Finally, the AUC of the MOD PET was verified to be 0.738 [95%CI (0.651, 0.824)], the sensitivity was 74.7%, and the specificity was 60.9%; the AUC of the MOD CT-3D was 0.762 [95%CI (0.677, 0.848)], the sensitivity was 51.9%, and the specificity was 87.0%; the AUC of the MOD combination was 0.857 [95%CI (0.789, 0.925)], the sensitivity was 77.2%, the specificity was 82.6%, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion 18F-FDG PET/CT combined with CT-3D can improve the diagnostic performance of pulmonary nodules, and its specificity and sensitivity are better than those of single imaging diagnosis method. The combined prediction model is of great significance for the selection of surgical timing and surgical methods for pulmonary nodules, and provides a theoretical basis for the application of artificial intelligence in the pulmonary nodule diagnosis.
ObjectiveTo explore the influencing factors for Hook-wire precise positioning under CT guidance, determine the best positioning management strategy, and develop Nomogram prediction model. Methods Patients who underwent CT-guided Hook-wire puncture positioning in our hospital from July 2018 to November 2022 were selected. They were randomly divided into a training set and a validation set with a ratio of 7 : 3. Clinical data of the patients were analyzed, and the logistic analysis was used to screen out the risk factors that affected CT-guided Hook-wire precise positioning for the training set. The Nomogram prediction model was constructed according to the risk factors, and the goodness of fit test and clinical decision curve analysis were performed. ResultsA total of 199 patients with CT-guided Hook-wire puncture were included in this study, including 72 males and 127 females, aged 25-83 years. There were 139 patients in the training set and 60 patients in the validation set. In the training set, 70 patients were accurately located, with an incidence of 50.36%. Logistic regression analysis showed that height [OR=3.46, 95%CI (1.44, 8.35), P=0.006], locating needle perpendicular to the horizontal plane [OR=3.40, 95%CI (1.37, 8.43), P=0.008], locating needle perpendicular to the tangent line of skin surface [OR=6.01, 95%CI (2.38, 15.20), P＜0.001], CT scanning times [OR=3.03, 95%CI (1.25, 7.33), P=0.014], occlusion [OR=10.56, 95%CI (1.98, 56.48), P=0.006] were independent risk factors for CT-guided Hook-wire precise localization. The verification results of the Nomogram prediction model based on these independent risk factors showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.843 [95%CI (0.776, 0.910)], and the predicted value of the correction curve was basically consistent with the measured value. The AUC of the model in the validation set was 0.854 [95%CI (0.759, 0.950)]. The decision curves showed that when the threshold probability was within the range of 8%-85% in the training set and 18%-99% in the validation set, there was a high net benefit value. Conclusion Height, the locating needle perpendicular to the horizontal plane, the locating needle perpendicular to the tangent line of skin surface, number of CT scans, and occlusion are independent risk factors for CT-guided Hook-wire accurate localization. The Nomogram model established based on the above risk factors can accurately assess and quantify the risk of CT-guided Hook-wire accurate localization.
ObjectiveTo assess the feasibility of 3D digital lung software used in preoperative planning of patients with multiple pulmonary nodules and poor pulmonary function. MethodsFive patients with multiple pulmonary nodules in the left lung, meanwhile with a history of single lung lobectomy in the right lung were included in our hospital between June and December 2015. There were 4 males and 1 female at an average age of 50.4±2.6 years. A 320-slice volumetric CT scanner was used to the CT angiography (CTA) of the pulmonary artery. The data of CT images were imported into the 3D digital lung software that was researched and developed by Xiamen QiangBen Science and Technology Company. The 3D reconstruction of digital virtual lung was completed by this software based on those data. At the same time the soft-ware completed the automatic segmentation of the lung based on the pulmonary artery system and the 3D reconstruction of the pulmonary nodules. The 3D digital lung software calculated the volume proportion of the intended removal (segm-ental lesions) to the whole lung, estimated the effect of surgery on forced expired volume in one second (FEV1), and the patient's tolerance ability to surgery. After the preoperative planning, the patients received multiple pulmonary segmental/subsegmental resection under the general anesthesia by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). ResultsThe 3d reconstruction of the pulmonary arteries reached 5 levels in 5 patients. And the software automatically identified out the lung segment/subsegment to show the lung nodules of lung segment/subsegment. The preselection lung volume of 5 patients accounted for 14.00%-27.00% of total lung volume. The software estimated FEV1 as 1.16-1.46 L which can tolerate the operation. The 5 patients were successfully performed surgery of multiple pulmonary segmental/subsegmental resection under the general anesthesia by VATS. The software located lung nodules from the resection of pulmonary segments during operation immediately. Then we sent them to the rapid pathological examination for diagnosis. After operation, the patients recovered well, and had no respiratory insufficiency. Hospitalization day was 4 days. ConclusionThe 3D digital pulmonary software can not only automatically identify the pulmonary segments, precisely position the pulmonary nodule, show the relationship among the target pulmonary segments artery, vein, bronchus and the surroun-ding artery, vein, and bronchus, but also calculate the volume of the pulmonary segments, estimate the impact of the pulmonary segmentectomy on the FEV1. It is useful for precise evaluation of the tolerant capacity of multiple pulmonary nodules in patients with unstaged multiple pulmonary segments.
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value and utility of flexible bronchoscopy in the preoperative assessment in patients with solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). Methods A total of 111 patients with SPNs of unknown origin treated between January and June 2016 were retrospectively enrolled. The clinical characteristics, bronchoscopy findings and surgical strategies were collected. Results In the total 111 cases, malignant and benign SPNs were 79 and 32 cases, respectively. The mean diameter of malignant SPNs was larger than that of benign SPNs [(2.04±0.58) vs. (1.70±0.75) cm, P<0.05]. Bronchoscopy identified 9 cases (8.1%) unsuspected findings. Surgeries were modified or cancelled in 3 patients (2.7%) because of bronchoscopy findings. Transbronchoscopy biopsies were performed in 26 patients, 9 of whom were diagnosed lung cancer preoperatively, with a sensitivity of 45% (9/20) and a specificity of 100% (6/6). Conclusions Flexible bronchoscopy can be contributed to diagnosis of SPN before surgery and determination of surgical strategies. It is suggested that flexible bronchoscopy could be included in the routine preoperative work-up of SPN.
Automatic detection of pulmonary nodule based on computer tomography (CT) images can significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. However, there is a lack of effective interactive tools to record the marked results of radiologists in real time and feed them back to the algorithm model for iterative optimization. This paper designed and developed an online interactive review system supporting the assisted diagnosis of lung nodules in CT images. Lung nodules were detected by the preset model and presented to doctors, who marked or corrected the lung nodules detected by the system with their professional knowledge, and then iteratively optimized the AI model with active learning strategy according to the marked results of radiologists to continuously improve the accuracy of the model. The subset 5−9 dataset of the lung nodule analysis 2016(LUNA16) was used for iteration experiments. The precision, F1-score and MioU indexes were steadily improved with the increase of the number of iterations, and the precision increased from 0.213 9 to 0.565 6. The results in this paper show that the system not only uses deep segmentation model to assist radiologists, but also optimizes the model by using radiologists' feedback information to the maximum extent, iteratively improving the accuracy of the model and better assisting radiologists.
With the widespread adoption of low-dose CT screening and the extensive application of high-resolution CT, the detection rate of sub-centimeter lung nodules has significantly increased. How to scientifically manage these nodules while avoiding overtreatment and diagnostic delays has become an important clinical issue. Among them, lung nodules with a consolidation tumor ratio less than 0.25, dominated by ground-glass shadows, are particularly worthy of attention. The therapeutic challenge for this group is how to achieve precise and complete resection of nodules during surgery while maximizing the preservation of the patient's lung function. The "watershed topography map" is a new technology based on big data and artificial intelligence algorithms. This method uses Dicom data from conventional dose CT scans, combined with microscopic (22-24 levels) capillary network anatomical watershed features, to generate high-precision simulated natural segmentation planes of lung sub-segments through specific textures and forms. This technology forms fluorescent watershed boundaries on the lung surface, which highly fit the actual lung anatomical structure. By analyzing the adjacent relationship between the nodule and the watershed boundary, real-time, visually accurate positioning of the nodule can be achieved. This innovative technology provides a new solution for the intraoperative positioning and resection of lung nodules. This consensus was led by four major domestic societies, jointly with expert teams in related fields, oriented to clinical practical needs, referring to domestic and foreign guidelines and consensus, and finally formed after multiple rounds of consultation, discussion, and voting. The main content covers the theoretical basis of the "watershed topography map" technology, indications, operation procedures, surgical planning details, and postoperative evaluation standards, aiming to provide scientific guidance and exploration directions for clinical peers who are currently or plan to carry out lung nodule resection using the fluorescent microscope watershed analysis method.