Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of 16 patients with connective tissue diseases associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) complicated with lung cancer, and to improve the cognition of the disease. Methods Clinical data of 16 patients diagnosed as CTD-ILD associated with lung cancer, who were admitted to our center, were retrospectively analyzed, including general conditions, clinical characteristics, auxiliary examinations, pathological classification of lung cancer, TNM type, treatment and clinical outcome. Results Among the 16 CTD-ILD patients with lung cancer, there were 12 males and 4 females. The mean age at diagnosis of CTD-ILD was (64.7±9.2) years, and the mean age at diagnosis of lung cancer was (66.6±8.7) years. Lung occupying space on imaging (62.5%) was the most common initial symptom in lung cancer patients, followed by cough and phlegm (12.5%) and chest pain (12.5%). Of patients with lung cancer, adenocarcinoma (8 cases, 50.0%) was the most common pathological type, followed by small cell lung cancer (4 cases，25.0%). The diagnosis time of CTD-ILD was earlier than that of lung cancer in 8 cases (50.0%), with a median time of 36.0 (11.3，57.0) months, followed by 7 cases (43.8%) of CTD-ILD diagnosed with lung cancer at the same time. The diagnosis time of lung cancer was earlier than that of CTD-ILD in 1 case (6.3%). The most common TNM stage for lung cancer was stage Ⅳ (9 cases, 56.25%). Sixteen patients were followed up from 1 to 64 months, with a median of 8.5 (1.5, 14.3) months. Eleven patients (68.8%) died, including 8 patients (72.7%) died of infection and 3 patients (27.3%) died of end-stage lung cancer. Conclusion For CTD-ILD patients, close follow-up and regular imaging monitoring are necessary to help early detection of lung cancer and improve prognosis.

Key words: connective tissue diseases, lung diseases, interstitial, lung neoplasms, immunosuppressive agents