Clinical and CT imaging characteristics in ALK rearranged lung adenocarcinoma

SUNing; LILei; JINYun; FANGWeijun; ZHANGXianlan; XIEYalin; HUANGZhihao; CENWenchang

Abstract：ObjectiveTo explore clinical and CT characteristics of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma.MethodsIn this retrospective study, 217 lung adeno carcinoma patients were included. Patients with ALK-rearrange were defined with ALK positive group, while the control group was matched by gender and smoking history from ALK negative lung adenocarcinoma patients. Four clinical features (age, gender, smoking history and staging) were recorded. The location, size, ground glass opacity, lobulation, spiculation, nodules in the same lobe, nodules in non-same lobe, obstructive pneumonia, vascular invasion, necrosis, pleural retraction, obstructive changes, bubble-like lucency, lymphadenopathy, pleural or pericardial effusion were analyzed. The items were compared between 28 ALK positive lung adeno carcinoma patients and ALK negative patients.ResultsIn 217 lung adeno carcinoma patients, the positive rate of ALK was 12.9%(28/217). ALK positive patients were more common in younger (47.93±13.68 years vs 59.75±13.27 years, t=3.281, P=0.002), female (46.4% vs 28.0%, χ2=3.859, P=0.048), non-smoking patients (67.9% vs 47.6%, χ2=3.995, P=0.046). Vascular invasion (39.3% vs 14.3%, χ2=4.462, P=0.035) and necrosis (32.1% vs 3.6%, χ2=7.791, P=0.005)were higher in ALK positive lung adeno patients. Other CT imaging traits of two groups was not significantly different (P>0.05).ConclusionThe patient may have ALK rearrange, whoyoung, female, non-smoking lung adenocarcinoma and accompanied with vascular invasion and necrosis in CT imaging.