Pregnancy may have little influence on ground-glass opacities suspected for lung adenocarcinoma

Purpose: Owing to the popularity of low-dose computed tomography in lung cancer screening, young women spotted with ground-glass opacities (GGO) is a growing subgroup in clinical practice. We aim to investigate the influence of pregnancy on GGOs suspected for lung adenocarcinoma.

Methods: This retrospective study collected a series of female patients who were pregnant in follow-up of GGO lesions. The last CT images of GGO before pregnancy (CT1) and the first CT images after pregnancy (CT2) were reviewed to assess any radiologic change. Young female patients who were not pregnant in long-term (> 12 months) follow-up of GGO were enrolled as a comparison group. We also enrolled patients who gave birth within 2 years before surgical resection of GGOs.

Results: Four patients were enrolled according to the criteria. There was no significant change of the GGOs in all four patients with a median follow-up duration of 45.5 (range 17-86) months. Two patients were diagnosed pathologically to be minimally invasive adenocarcinoma, one was invasive adenocarcinoma and one did not underwent surgery. Six patients were enrolled in the comparison group and no significant change was witnessed in all the nodules. In those patients who gave birth within two years before surgical resection of GGOs, we found that the majority present as preinvasive lesions, and those with invasive adenocarcinomas were bigger in size and possess more solid component radiologically.

Conclusion: Pregnancy seems to have little impact on GGOs suspected for lung adenocarcinoma. Therefore, pregnancy might be safely planned during the follow-up of GGOs.