Correlation of spicule sign on computed tomography scans with peripheral lung cancers associated with interstitial lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between spicular signs on computed tomography (CT) scans and peripheral lung cancer (PLC) that is associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We analyzed clinical data from 96 PLC cases and grouped patients based on whether they had interstitial pneumonia into either ILD/COPD group or non-ILD/COPD group. The occurrence rate of spicule sign was 90.3% in the ILD/COPD group and 61.8% in the non-ILD/COPD group, respectively. There was a significant difference between these groups (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the occurrence rate of spicular signs among patients with different pathological types of PLC. The severity of ILD affected the spicular morphology on CT scans directly. There was a significant correlation between the appearance of spicule sign on CT scans and PLC that was associated with ILD/COPD.