CT-guided Hookwire localization before video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for solitary ground-glass opacity dominant pulmonary nodules: radiologic-pathologic analysis

The optimal screening or treatment strategies of solitary pulmonary nodules especially ground-glass opacities (GGOs) remain controversial. With CT-guided Hookwire localization, it is accurate to find the small lesions during video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). In this study, we evaluate the efficiency and safety of CT-guided Hookwire localization of GGO-dominant (GGO component > 50%) pulmonary nodules before VATS and investigate the correlation between the radiologic features and pathology. From April 2008 to April 2014, a total of 273 patients with solitary GGO-dominant pulmonary nodules were included. Tumor size was 12.4 ± 5.7 mm in diameter, including 208 pulmonary adenocarcinomas and 65 benign nodules. Dislodgement occurred in six patients (2.20%) during surgery. Postoperative complications included asymptomatic needle track hemorrhage (27.1%), minimal pneumothorax (5.9%) and hemoptysis (0.4%). In 208 (76.2%) pulmonary adenocarcinomas, 82 nodules showed ≥90% GGO and 126 showed 50%≤GGO<90%, while 84 nodules staged as T1aN0M0, 96 staged as T1bN0M0, and 28 staged as T1cN0M0. The multivariable analysis demonstrated that 50%≤GGO<90% (HR=2.459, 95% CI: 1.246-4.853, P=0.010), speculation (HR=3.911, 95% CI: 1.966-7.663, P<0.001), lobulation (HR=4.582, 95% CI: 2.149-9.767, P<0.001) and vascular convergence (HR=4.096, 95% CI: 1.132-14.824, P=0.032) were the independent risk factors to identification of the malignant GGO-dominant pulmonary nodules. In conclusions,CT-guided Hookwire localizati for GGO-dominant pulmonary nodules before VATS is a safe and effective procedure for accurate diagnosis and resection of indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodules.