Shanghai experts issue lung cancer standard

Experts from Shanghai Cancer Center have issued a diagnosis and treatment standard on ground-glass opacity in lung cancer to regulate clinical practice.

About 95 percent of lung cancer detected in health checkups are related to ground-glass opacity, which is found as cancerous changes through follow-up checks and has become an important clue for early-stage lung cancer detection. There are more lung cancer patients with ground-glass opacity being detected, who are considered as low risk for lung cancer under traditional concepts.

“Due to the development of screening and health checkup technology, detection of ground-glass opacity becomes prevalent,” according to the cancer center's Dr Chen Haiquan.

“In the research, we found there was a great deal of difference between ground-glass opacity-related lung cancer to other types of lung cancer,” Chen said.

Chen’s team divided such lung cancer into three types depending on the transparency of the ground-glass opacity. “We suggest double checks at least four to six months after the first detection of ground-glass opacity to avoid unnecessary surgery in cases with benign changes. As high as 93 percent of patients with ground-glass opacity in my team receiving surgery are confirmed as malignant changes, as we have tried to avoid over-treatment to benign patients,” he said.

Compared with traditional pre-surgery, Chen’s team found that many invasive checks are unnecessary for patients with ground-glass opacity. So his team simplified checks to reduce trauma from invasive checks and avoid waste of medical resources.

The research has been recognized by the international medical field and published by The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.