Preliminary Investigation and Imaging Analysis of Early Lung Cancer Screening Among Petroleum Workers in North China

Abstract

Background

The detection rate of lung nodules has increased significantly among petroleum workers in North China since the low-dose CT (LDCT) screening has been widely carried out. What's more, the number of confirmed early lung cancers is increasing continuously. Therefore, a great deal of concern for the high risk of lung cancer has been shown among petroleum workers.

Purpose

To improve the screening efficiency and maximize the benefits of the subjects, the current situation of LDCT lung cancer screening should be understood and the imaging characteristics of early lung cancer should be analyzed for petroleum workers in North China.

Materials and methods

Firstly, the dynamic changes of LDCT early lung cancer screening for petroleum workers in North China were analyzed in recent years. Then, the survey data of 3121 petroleum workers was compared with that of 1868 non-petroleum workers, which was analyzed. Finally, 91 patients (129 nodular lung cancer) confirmed by pathology were retrospectively analyzed, and the data of which was compared with the clinical features obtained from survey data above. The imaging characteristics and related factors of different subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma were discussed and analyzed.

Results

Lung nodules were found in 810 cases (25.95%) out of 3121 petroleum workers; and the surgery was chosen by 42 patients, 38 of whom were confirmed as lung cancer. Compared with the data of screened petroleum workers, there were more older people and more females as well as a higher proportion of people with family malignancy history, and a lower proportion of smoking people in 91 patients with lung cancer. As the pathological grade of tumor nodules increased, the volume and diameter of nodules gradually increased, and the mean density, maximum density and standard deviation of density also increased (p < 0.001). The volume and diameter of nodules were positively correlated with ages (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

The occurrence of lung adenocarcinoma is closely related to the family history of malignant tumors, and the constituent ratio of young women without a history of smoking increased significantly. At the same time, the quantitative information obtained by using CT images has important value in predicting its pathological subtypes.

Keywords:

• Tomography
• X-ray computed；low dose
• screening
• lung neoplasms
• adenocarcinoma

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the radiology departments, clinical colleagues, and Huiying Medical Technology Co., Ltd. for support in the research process. Finally, special thanks to the Professor Quan Zhang and Wen Qin, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital for his help in all aspects.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board.

Author contributions

All the authors were involved in this study. ZJG was responsible for the writing of the paper. QZ directs the overall work of the research. YL and ZMB are responsible for the guidance of data processing. Other authors are responsible for data collection. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.