Multislice spiral computed tomography in the differential diagnosis of ground-glass opacity

This study aimed to evaluate the value of multislice spiral computed tomography (CT) in differential diagnosis of benign or malignant pulmonary ground-glass opacity (GGO).

A total of 68 patients with pulmonary GGO who received surgical treatment in our hospital from January 2014 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative pathology showed that there were 22 cases of benign GGO and 47 cases of malignant GGO (adenocarcinoma). The diameter, maximum CT value, and mean CT value of benign and malignant GGOs were determined and compared. The clinical value of identifying benign or malignant GGOs with these indices was analyzed through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

The mean GGO diameter, maximum CT value, and mean CT value in the benign group were significantly lower than those of in the malignant group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The diameter, maximum CT value, and mean CT value of GGO were applied to identify benign or malignant GGO: sensitivity was 60.87%, 69.57%, and 63.04%; and the specificity was 63.64%, 63.64%, and 81.82%; the cutoff values were 13.89 (mm), 26.18 (Hu), and 24.61 (Hu); and areas under the ROC curves were 0.66, 0.71, and 0.69, respectively.

The possibility of malignancy has been significantly increased for GGOs with a large diameter, high mean CT value and maximum CT value. Surgical treatment should be performed for this type of GGOs.