Analysis of HRCT characteristics of thin-walled cystoid lung cancer

MIAO Huanmin; YE Aihua; HU Su

doi:10.20258/j.cnki.1006-9011.2025.08.014

Abstract：Objective To investigate the high resolution CT(HRCT)features of lung cancer with thin-walled cystic cavity.Methods The clinical and HRCT imaging data of 31 patients with thin-walled cystic lung cancer confirmed by pathological ex-amination were selected.The age,gender,clinical symptoms,pathological type,lesion location,lesion shape,surrounding structural changes and cystic cavity manifestations were analyzed.The CT imaging features of 8 patients with a history of CT ex-amination were compared.Results All the 31 patients were peripheral lung cancer with typical imaging features of peripheral lung cancer,such as lobulation sign,spiculation sign,pleural indentation sign and vascular convergence sign.The cyst wall showed uneven thickness,irregular inner wall,intramural or extramural nodules,intracapsular septa,and surrounding ground glass shadow.Eight patients had anterior and posterior chest CT scans.One patient with squamous cell carcinoma was misdiag-nosed as lung abscess because the wall of the thin-walled cystic cavity became smooth and the surrounding inflammation pro-gressed in a short time.The remaining 7 cases were all adenocarcinoma.In the comparison of chest CT examination before and af-ter,the thin-walled cystic cavity lung cancer showed the following changes:enlargement of the lesion and/or cystic cavity,change of the single cyst to multiple cysts,thickening of the cyst wall,new wall nodules,and surrounding ground glass shadow.Conclusions Thin-walled cystic lung cancer can show some signs on HRCT,such as lobulation of the edge,uneven thickness of the cyst wall,lack of smoothness of the inner wall,surrounding ground glass shadow,and intracapsular separation.In the diag-nostic work,it is necessary to comprehensively analyze various signs and to closely observe the dynamic changes of the lesion to minimize misdiagnosis.