Prevalence of concomitant aortic disease and lung cancer: an exploratory study

Lung cancer and aortic disease share multiple risk factors. The co-presence of both diseases defines a peculiar type of patient who needs a specific protocol of treatment and follow-up. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of aortic disease in a population of patients with a diagnosis of primary lung cancer.

A retrospective, single center analysis of all patients admitted to the Thoracic Surgery Unit from January 2015 to January 2021. Demographic and baseline characteristics were retrieved from hospital electronic charts. All patients were screened for aortic disease, reviewing thoraco-abdominal Computed Tomography with contrast medium administration performed for oncological reasons. A cancer-free control group was obtained for comparison. Multilinear regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for the presence of aortic disease.

A total of 264 patients were preliminarily identified. After reviewing for exclusion criteria, a total of 148 patients were included in the analysis. Most of the patients were male (62.2%) with a mean age of 71±8.7 years. Cardiovascular risk factors were extensively prevalent in the population study. The incidence of aortic pathologies in the group of patients suffering from primary lung cancer was 27% (40 patients). The majority presented thoracic aortic aneurysms (11.5%). Comparison between the lung cancer group and the control group highlighted a substantial difference in terms of aortic disease prevalence (27% vs. 2.9%; P<0.0001). The regression analysis revealed that coronary artery disease [odds ratio (OR) 4.6988, P=0.001], peripheral artery disease (OR 7.7093, P=0.002), hypertension (OR 4.0152, P=0.03) and history of previous non-aortic vascular surgery procedures (OR 6.4509, P=0.003) were risk factors for aortic disease in patients with primary lung cancer.

Patients with lung cancer have a high prevalence of aortic disease, defining a peculiar subset of patients who deserve a specific protocol of treatment and follow-up. Further studies are needed to define a dedicated standardized multidisciplinary approach.