Original Article


Volume doubling time of lung adenocarcinomas considering epidermal growth factor receptor mutation status of exon 19 and 21: three-dimensional volumetric evaluation

Rui Zhang, Bojiang Chen, Yongzhao Zhou, Ping Zhou, Jing Jin, Longchao Zhao, Weimin Li

Abstract

Background: The current study was to investigate the volume doubling time (VDT) of lung adenocarcinomas considering epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status of exon 19 and 21, when compared with EGFR wide type.
Methods: Eighty-eight patients with pathologically proven adenocarcinomas, which underwent two or more computed tomography (CT) scans spared by 25 or more days, were included. EGFR mutations at exons 19 and 21 were determined using amplification refractory mutation system and all patients were divided into three groups—EGFR wide type group, EGFR mutation in exon 19 and 21 groups. Three-dimensional manual segmentations for all tumors were performed on first and latest follow-up CT scans; subsequently, VDTs were calculated and compared among three groups. Clinicopathoradiologic characters were also collected for subgroup analysis.
Results: EGFR mutations occurred in 49 (55.7%) patients, 19 in exon 19 and 30 in exon 21, respectively. The median VDT of all patients (33 men, 55 women; median age, 62 years) was 214 days (range, −4,092 to 10,920 days). Highly differentiated adenocarcinomas (median, 408 days) demonstrated longer VDT than those moderately (median, 172 days) or poorly (median, 144 days) differentiated (P=0.04). The VDT distribution was similar among EGFR wide type group (median, 207 days), EGFR mutation in exon 19 group (median, 288 days) and exon 21 group (median, 144 days) (P=0.21). In subgroup analysis, the median VDT of adenocarcinomas with EGFR mutation in exon 19 was longer than that of EGFR wide type for males (P=0.03) or patients without spiculation sign in chest CT (P=0.04). Totally 24 adenocarcinomas presented negative VDTs, most of which tended to be stable. Positive VDT values were used for all median description.
Conclusions: Overall VDT of lung adenocarcinomas seems not affected by EGFR mutation status. Researches with large population are warranted for further study.

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