CT texture features of lung adenocarcinoma with HER2 mutation

Mutations in human receptor tyrosine kinase epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) are rare. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and computed tomography (CT) texture features of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with HER2 mutation.

This study included 933 LUAD patients from January 2018 to December 2023 and classified their CT textures accordingly.

The data indicated that the incidence of HER2 mutation was higher in younger LUAD patients than in elder patients [7.5% (31/413) vs. 1.5% (8/520), p < 0.0001] and was associated with never-smokers [0% (0/78) vs. 4.6% (39/855), p = 0.03]. In this study, the tumors were categorized based on their diameter into T1a and ≥ T1b. The data revealed that HER2 mutation was more frequent in T1a than in ≥ T1b [11.0% (23/210) vs. 2.2% (16/723), p < 0.0001]. Furthermore, non-pSD was more common than pSD in LUAD with HER2 mutation than in LUAD with HER2 wild type [82.1% (31/39) vs.17.9% (7/39), p = 0.01]. Moreover, the size of pGGO (0.94 ± 0.29 cm vs. 1.24 ± 0.39 cm, p = 0.0009), mGGO (0.86 ± 0.39 cm vs. 1.5 ± 0.77 cm, p < 0.0001) and pSD (1.75 ± 0.81 cm vs. 2.5 ± 1.4 cm, p < 0.05) in LUAD patients with HER2 mutation was smaller than those with HER2 wild type patients. In addition, when LUADs with HER2 wild type transformed from pGGO to mGGO, their sizes increased significantly (1.50 ± 0.77 cm vs. 1.24 ± 0.39 cm). It was also observed that the incidence of LUAD with HER2 mutation of ≤ 1 cm was significantly more than that of > 1 cm comparing to that in LUAD with HER2 wild type [14.8% (12/81) vs. 1.7% (3/173), p < 0.0001].

This study indicated that the incidence of HER2 mutation was higher in younger and never-smoking LUAD patients. Furthermore, the growth of LUAD with HER2 mutation was slower than that of those with HER2 wild type. Moreover, most LUAD with HER2 mutation changed into pSD after > 1 cm.