Pleural Plaques in Lung Cancer Screening by Low-dose Computed Tomography: Prevalence, Association with Lung Cancer and Mortality

Overview

Journal BMC Pulm Med

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Pulmonary Medicine

Date 2017 Nov 28

PMID 29178853

Citations 5

Authors

Mario Silva

Nicola Sverzellati

Davide Colombi

Gianluca Milanese

Carlo La Vecchia

Carlotta Galeone

Alfonso Marchiano

Ugo Pastorino

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: To report the prevalence of pleural plaques in a lung cancer screening trial by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) and to test the association with incidence of lung cancer and mortality.

Methods: The LDCT of 2303 screenees were retrospectively reviewed with the specific aim of describing the prevalence and features of pleural plaques. Self-administered questionnaire was used to assess asbestos exposure. Frequency of lung cancer, lung cancer mortality, and overall mortality were detailed according to presence of pleural findings. Statistical analyses included comparison of mean or median, contingency tables, and Cox model for calculation of hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Among male screenees, 31/1570 (2%) showed pleural abnormalities, 128/1570 (8.2%) disclosed asbestos exposure, 23/31 (74.2%) subjects with pleural plaques consistently denied exposure to asbestos. There was a trend for higher frequency of lung cancer among subjects with pleural plaques (9.7% vs 4.2%). Lung cancer in subjects with pleural plaques was always diagnosed in advanced stage. Subjects with pleural plaques showed HR 5.48 (95% CI 1.61-18.70) for mortality from lung cancer.

Conclusions: Pleural plaques are a risk factor for lung cancer mortality that can be detected in lung cancer screening by LDCT, also in subjects that are not aware of asbestos exposure.

Trial Registration: NCT02837809 - Retrospectively registered July 1, 2016 - Enrolment of first participant September 2005.

Citing Articles

Impact of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening on lung cancer-related mortality.

Bonney A, Malouf R, Marchal C, Manners D, Fong K, Marshall H Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022; 8:CD013829.

PMID: 35921047 PMC: 9347663. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013829.pub2.

Low-dose CT for lung cancer screening: position paper from the Italian college of thoracic radiology.

Silva M, Picozzi G, Sverzellati N, Anglesio S, Bartolucci M, Cavigli E Radiol Med. 2022; 127(5):543-559.

PMID: 35306638 PMC: 8934407. DOI: 10.1007/s11547-022-01471-y.

The radiologist's role in lung cancer screening.

Snoeckx A, Franck C, Silva M, Prokop M, Schaefer-Prokop C, Revel M Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2021; 10(5):2356-2367.

PMID: 34164283 PMC: 8182709. DOI: 10.21037/tlcr-20-924.

Lung cancer screening: tell me more about post-test risk.

Silva M, Milanese G, Pastorino U, Sverzellati N J Thorac Dis. 2019; 11(9):3681-3688.

PMID: 31656638 PMC: 6790433. DOI: 10.21037/jtd.2019.09.28.

Asbestos, Pleural Plaques, and Lung Cancer: Untangling the Relationships.

Harber P Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019; 201(1):4-6.

PMID: 31539279 PMC: 6938144. DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201908-1676ED.

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