Clinical Characteristics of Slowly Growing Lung Cancer: 6 Case-Series Evaluation.

Nam, Hae Seong; Yang, Dong Hyuk; Kim, Jeong Soo; Kim, Hyun Jung; Yi, Hyeon Gyu; Lee, Kyung Hee; Cho, Jae Hwa; Yoon, Yong Han; Kwak, Seung Min; Lee, Hong Lyeol; Kim, Kwang Ho; Ryu, Jeong Seon

doi:2010.68.3.180

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 68(3); 2010 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2010;68(3):180-184.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2010.68.3.180 Published online March 1, 2010.

Clinical Characteristics of Slowly Growing Lung Cancer: 6 Case-Series Evaluation.

Hae Seong Nam, Dong Hyuk Yang, Jeong Soo Kim, Hyun Jung Kim, Hyeon Gyu Yi, Kyung Hee Lee, Jae Hwa Cho, Yong Han Yoon, Seung Min Kwak, Hong Lyeol Lee, Kwang Ho Kim, Jeong Seon Ryu

¹Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Inha University Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea. jsryu@inha.ac.kr
²Division of Hematooncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Inha University Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea.
³Department of Radiology, Inha University Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea.
⁴Department of Thoracic Surgery, Inha University Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea.

Abstract

Slowly growing lung cancers are quite rare and the leading cause of length time bias and over-diagnosis bias in lung cancer screening. We report 6 cases of slowly growing lung cancer in a tertiary hospital between January 1999 and December 2008. The clinical characteristics of these 6 cases with slowly growing lung cancer were examined. The median age at diagnosis was 68 years (range, 49~72), and 5 patients (83%) were female. The most common histology type was adenocarcinoma (83%). After excluding two patients who showed no change in the tumor size, the median tumor doubling time was 189 months (range, 86~387). The proportion of patients with slowly growing lung cancer appears to be particularly large in women, especially among patients with adenocarcinoma. Our experience shows that slowly growly lung cancers are more heterogeneous and diverse.

Key Words: Lung Neoplasm, Adenocarcinoma, Slow Growth