Large scale evaluation of pulmonary nodule workup: A real-world study of over 150,000 patients in New York State.

Authors

null

Vamsidhar Velcheti

NYU Langone-Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York, NY

Vamsidhar Velcheti , Erika Klump , Andrew Long , Hadrian Green , Tessa Williams , Tielman Van Vleck , Hesper Wong , Randall Legg , Jon Apple , Bobby Arelli , Ilker Arslan

Organizations

NYU Langone-Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York, NY, Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC, Vaucluse Advisory Ltd, Betchworth, United Kingdom, Clinithink LLC, East Alpharetta, GA, Premier Inc., Ballantyne, NC, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Gaithersburg, MD, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P., Gaithersburg, MD

Research Funding

Pharmaceutical/Biotech Company
AstraZeneca LLC

Background: Around 1.6 million patients in the US annually have a pulmonary nodule (PN) found on imaging. Previous studies suggest 1-12% of PNs represent an underlying malignancy at a potentially curative stage. PNs ≥6mm are considered higher risk. Despite guideline availability, only about one-third of commercially insured patients with a PN receive recommended workup, which may include further investigation via imaging or surgery. In addition, patients and providers may delay workup of PNs identified during COVID-19. We aimed to describe variations in PN workup for different patient demographic and clinical characteristics at 7 healthcare institutions in New York (NY) state. Methods: We used a retrospective cross-sectional design in which structured demographic and unstructured clinical data were used to analyze patient documents from a NY state health information exchange from January 2018 to February 2022. Clinical features were abstracted using a clinical natural language processing platform, CLiX unlock. Results: 58 million documents from 5.5 million unique patients were analyzed. Of the overall 151,436 patients with PNs, workup was found in 47% (71,071). Across institutions, workup ranged between 24% and 52%; 40% (60,749) had evidence of a PN in the upper lung location. We found 52,789 patients (35%) had a maximum PN ≥6mm and of those, 55% (28,958) had a workup (Table). For patients with a PN ≥6mm, workup for non-English speaking patients was 9% lower than for English speaking patients (47% vs 56%), 17% lower for patients 18-44 years than patients 45-90 years (39% vs 56%), 47% lower for patients presenting with a chest injury rather than cancer screening (28% vs 75%), and 9% higher for patients with initial imaging via chest computed tomography (CT) rather than other CT (58% vs 49%). After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020), overall workup decreased 3.8% and prevalence of symptoms such as dyspnea and chest pain increased. Conclusions: The descriptive findings of this analysis demonstrate gaps and variations in workup for patients with PNs across different demographics and clinical scenarios. A subsequent project is underway to explore strategies for improvement in adherence to guideline-recommended care to benefit patients by diagnosing lung cancer at an earlier, potentially curative stage.

Workup Across Select Population Characteristics.

CharacteristicGroupTotal Patients w/ PNs Patients w/ Workup
n (%)
Total Patients w/ PNs ≥6mmPatients w/ Workup PNs ≥6mm
n (%)
Age18-4414,2964,213 (30)4,0591,571 (39)
44-6553,03223,337 (44)15,9258,343 (52)
65+84,10843,521 (52)32,80519,044 (58)
LanguageEnglish112,40954,033 (48)39,64722,279 (56)
Spanish8,9903,389 (38)3,0451,360 (45)
Chinese1,258571 (45)546269 (49)
Other4,2271,995 (47)1,623848 (52)
Index Imaging TypeCT chest105,03752,503 (50)35,50420,517 (58)
CT, other37,89914,925 (39)12,5656,212 (49)

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Lung Cancer—Non-Small Cell Local-Regional/Small Cell/Other Thoracic Cancers

Track

Lung Cancer

Sub Track

Local-Regional Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Citation

J Clin Oncol 41, 2023 (suppl 16; abstr 8559)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.8559

Abstract #

8559

Poster Bd #

186

Abstract Disclosures

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