Background: The clinical role of ground glass opacity (GGO) on computed tomography (CT) in stage I pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients currently remains unclear.
Aim: To explore the prognostic value of GGO on CT in lung adenocarcinoma patients who were pathologically diagnosed with tumor-node-metastasis stage I.
Methods: A comprehensive and systematic search was conducted through the PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases up to April 3, 2021. The hazard ratio (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were combined to assess the association between the presence of GGO and prognosis, representing overall survival and disease-free survival. Subgroup analysis based on the ratio of GGO was also conducted. STATA 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis.
Results: A total of 12 studies involving 4467 patients were included. The pooled results indicated that the GGO predicted favorable overall survival (HR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.34-0.59, P < 0.001) and disease-free survival (HR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.18-0.70, P = 0.003). Subgroup analysis based on the ratio of GGO further demonstrated that the proportion of GGO was a good prognostic indicator in pathological stage I pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients, and patients with a higher ratio of GGO showed better prognosis than patients with a lower GGO ratio did.
Conclusion: This meta-analysis manifested that the presence of GGO on CT predicted favorable prognosis in tumor-node-metastasis stage I lung adenocarcinoma. Patients with a higher GGO ratio were more likely to have a better prognosis than patients with a lower GGO ratio.
Keywords: Ground glass opacity; Lung adenocarcinoma; Meta-analysis; Prognosis; Stage I.
©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.