Concerning the early detection of the peripheral lung cancer, the problems werediscussed about the limitation of the detectable size and the interval of periodicalchest X-ray examination.
The volume doubling time of the peripheral lung cancer was measured in 44 cases to know the differences of the growth rate by histological types. Adenocarcinomawas divided into two sub-groups; alveolar-septum lining type which consisted ofpulmoalveolar and papillary adenocarcinomas, and alveolar-space filling type whichconsisted of tubular and acinar adenocarcinomas.
The volume doubling times in each histological type were from 149 to 1, 430 days (mean: 93 days) in squamous cell carcinomas; from 27 to 130 days (mean: 71 days) (mean: 121 days) in alveolar-space filling adenocarcinomas; from 52 to 184 days (mean: 93 days) in squamous cell carcinomas; from 27 to 130 days (mean: 7.1 days) in large cell undifferentiated carcinomas and from 28 to 56 days (mean: 43 days) in small cell undifferentiated carcinomas.
The diameter of the shadow of the cancer at detection were measured in 33cases which were periodically checked by chest X-ray before detection with theinterval of less than 12 months. Although the alveolar-septum lining adenocarcinomahad the slowest growth rate and had an opportunity of being detected in smallersize, 11 of 12 cases were more than 1.5 cm in diameter at detection. On the other hand, 9 of 21 cases of the other types were 1.5cm or less in diameterat detection, even though they had rather faster growth rate. The minimum diameterat detection was 1.0cm in alveolar-septum lining adenocarcinoma and 0.6cm in theother histological types. This is indicating that the minimum limitation of the detectablediameter is larger in the alveolar-septum lining adenocarcinoma than in the other types.
The duration of time for cancers to grow from 0.5cm to 2.0cm, which wascalculated from the volume doubling times, was more than 5.4 months for undifferentiated carcinomas, more than 10.4 months for squamous cell carcinomas, more than 12.4 months for alveolar-space filling adenocarcinomas and more than30 months for alveolar-septum lining adenocarcinomas. Therefore, it was concludedthat the interval of the periodical chest X-ray examinations should be 6 months fordetecting almost all of the peripheral lung cancers within less than 2.0 cm in diameter.
Since the minimum limitation of the detectable diameter is larger in the alveolarseptum lining adenocarcinomas than in the other types, a careful attention is requiredfor the detection of this type, althoug the growth rate is extemely slow in this type.
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