Progressions on Diagnosis and Treatment of Ground-glass Opacity

Pulmonary ground-glass opacity (GGO) has raised increasing attention of clinical oncologists and thoracic surgeons in recent years. GGO appears as hazy increased opacity of lung, with preservation of bronchial and vascular margins. GGO is less opaque than consolidation, in which bronchovascular margins are obscured. In most cases, GGOs are indolent, while in other cases, they may grow malignant. This pattern makes it difficult to find a standard way to treat patients with GGO. Moreover, with the improvement of technology, more and more GGOs are found in patients’ computed tomgraphy (CT) scan, making it a global problem. In the literature, many clinicians have reported their findings on this topic from histologic, radiologic and therapeutic perspectives. In this study, we reviewed the development on this topic in recent 10 years. We hope our study can be helpful for clinicians to better understand this problem, collect more data in their clinical work and most importantly, let evidence guide our future therapeutic choices.