Surgical Outcomes and Prognostic Impact of Lung Cancer Associated with Cystic Airspaces: A Retrospective Analysis of 75 Cases

PURPOSE: The present study reviewed surgical cases of lung cancer associated with cystic airspace (LCCA) and examined the imaging and clinicopathological features of these cases. METHODS: A total of 75 patients with lung cancer associated with cystic airspace, who underwent lung cancer surgery in our hospital between January 2017 and December 2020, were included. We retrospectively analyzed the association between postoperative recurrence of lung cancer and lung cancer associated with the cystic airspace using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: Patients with LCCA had a worse prognosis than those with non-LCCA. Furthermore, a univariate analysis showed a significant difference between sex, smoking, differentiation, tumor size, Stage, and LCCA, while a multivariate analysis showed a significant difference between Stage and LCCA. LCCA cases were classified into four categories, as reported in a previous study. Types I and III showed more adenocarcinomas, while Type IV tended to show squamous cell carcinomas. CONCLUSIONS: LCCA has a poor prognosis. It is often difficult to determine which of the T factors of the TNM classification are applied. Therefore, further studies are needed to accumulate more LCCA cases.