Article and Video CATEGORIES

Cancer Journey

Search By

Dr. Jack West is a medical oncologist and thoracic oncology specialist, and Executive Director of Employer Services at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, CA.

Noguchi Classification of Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma (BAC)
Thu, 11/14/2019 - 09:58
This is an oldie but goodie article from GRACE's archives. Enjoy!
Author
Howard (Jack) West, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, Medical Oncology, Executive Director, Employer Services, Founder, President and CEO of GRACE
Image

 

 

I had previously written about a spectrum from pure bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) to invasive adenocarcinoma in one of my first posts, but the real credit for this concept goes back to Dr. Masayuki Noguchi from the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, who characterized a classification system for peripheral lung adenocarcinomas back in 1995. This paper led to the “Noguchi” system of grading the more typical adenocarcinomas from A to D, with some important implications. While other proposed classification systems have been developed, and none is uniformly accepted and used, the Noguchi classification system comes up more than others in describing the continuum I alluded to previously that progresses from pure BAC to invasive adenocarcinoma.

Obviously, this was a Japanese study, which has important implications, because the Japanese world of lung cancer (LC) is different from that in the US or Europe. In Europe, LC is still very disproportionately male, related to tobacco, and about 50% squamous cancers, while Japan is the other extreme, with some studies showing a closer balance of women and men, 30-50% of patients as never-smokers, and remarkably few cases of squamous cancer, with LC being comprised of generally adenocarcinoma and its well-differentiated subset. A North American population generally shows results between these two extremes.

The Noguchi study involved a detailed analysis of 236 patients with peripheral adenocarcinoma lung tumors (near the outer edges of the lung), all 2 cm or less in diameter. The specifics of the grading system and the definitions of the classes are complex and worth knowing only if you’re a pathologist carefully reviewing tissue and describing lung tumors. The important the highlights are that groups A to D are far more common than rare adenocarcinoma subtypes known as tubular and papillary adenocarcinoma, and also that there is a gradation from A to D of most differentiated to least differentiated. Men comprise the vast majority of group D, while the sexes are much more evenly split in the groups that are well differentiated and would be considered BAC or a variant. The likelihood of finding nodal involvement was also related to the Noguchi group; no patients in groups A or B had any lymph node spread of their cancer, compared with 28% in group C and 48% in group D. In addition, pleural involvement and vascular invasion were significantly more common in groups C & D than in groups A & B. Growth and cell division were also factors, with the rate of cell division far higher for the less differentiated cancers. The number of mitoses (my-TOW-sees), or cells in the process of dividing on a detailed look at the slide, was more than 5 per “high-powered field” in only 6% of groups A & B, compared with 26% for group C, and 53% for group D. But the most important factor, correlating with the rates of cancer cell division, was survival, which was 100% after 5 years for groups A & B, but lower as you move stepwise from type C to type D.

This type of trend has also been seen outside of just BAC and adenocarcinoma; I’ve written that tumor grade is well correlated with survival, and specifically that people with well-differentiated LC do better overall than those people with poorly differentiated tumors.

One other important point is that this study demonstrated that patients with small, peripheral, and very well differentiated lung adenocarcinomas had a survival of 100%, while none demonstrated evidence of nodal spread. This raised the question of whether it’s necessary to do as extensive a surgery in the setting of a well-differentiated lung adenocarcinoma as you would routinely do for other cancers. If the prognosis is outstanding, perhaps we can do smaller surgeries and still achieve such excellent results. I’ll cover the question of optimal surgery for small and well-differentiated lung adenoarcinomas later. This raises the unusual but welcome question in the field of LC, “what is the least we can do to still nearly assure ourselves of excellent results?” Could less be more?

 

One Response to Noguchi Classification of Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma (BAC)

 
 
  •  
    Linda says:

    Hi Dr. West:

    Thank you so much for this informative post on BAC.

    As you may remember, I had the full meal deal (LLL) in June of 06 and I know for a fact that my surgeon stated he struggled with the decision of “how much” during the surgery. He told my husband he even contacted his partner during surgery to question whether he should just do a wedge or take the whole left lower lobe. His partner felt that due to the statistics comprising mainly of Japanese studies and the fact that I was young(ish) he was advised to take out the lobe. I certainly understand the position he was in and he has commented on other visits that they just don’t know enough on Canadian/US forms of BAC to use the Noguchi classification here. I did try to pin both you and he to a letter from A to D and, understandably, it just can’t be done. So, in the meantime, I will pray this doesn’t return and that if it does the answers will be more clear as to whether “could less be more?”.

    Thanks again for your interest in this particular process – I feel I was lucky to get such a rare form and lucky that the rare form wasn’t an aggressive one. Sadly, so many aren’t and it breaks my heart.

    Linda

Video Language

Next Previous link

Previous PostNext Post

Related Content

Image
Mandarin LCVL
Video
王林医生用普通话讨论重要的肺癌信息。这些信息包括靶向治疗、晚期疾病的症状、循环肿瘤 DNA、治疗方案等。我们鼓励您与社区中说普通话的人分享。 Dr. Lin Wang discusses important lung cancer information in Mandarin. This information includes targeted therapy, symptoms of advanced disease, circulating tumor DNA, treatment options, and more. We encourage you to share this with the Mandarin speakers in your community. To watch the complete Playlist visit: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWsyUmdjLXhGnSxobmz4CBP3pxAj7nDa…;  
Image
Tell your story!  Apply now for the Clinical Trials Experiences through Storytelling Program
Article
We are excited to launch our third year of this program; tell your story and help us help others! Apply Online Now!     GRACE Patient Perspectives: Clinical Trials Experiences Storytelling Program Overview  
Image
Blood Cancer OncTalk
Video
Blood Cancer OncTalk was a live presentation that brought together top oncologists to discuss emerging concepts and treatment options in blood cancer. The program was chaired by Dr. Aaron Goodman, with the participation of Dr. Mazie Tsang, Hematologist / Oncologist; Dr. Autumn Jeong, Hematologist / Oncologist; Dr. Shaji Kumar, Hematologist / Oncologist; and Dr. Sridevi Rajeeve, Hematologist / Oncologist.

Forum Discussions

Hi Caregiver and welcome to Grace.  I'm sorry that you need to be here and hope we can help.  Osimertinib has better efficacy than gefitinib (including OS and reaching the brain)...

Hi Bob, Welcome to Grace.  I'm sorry about your sil.  Unfortunately, cancer becomes resistant to TKIs like tagrisso.  Sometimes all of the cancer becomes resistant at once and sometimes just parts...

Hi Kimberly, Welcome to Grace.  I'm sorry you are here and glad you've found us. 


 


It sounds like a biopsy would be the next step.  I can't speak to what...

Recent Comments

JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Hi Tammy,  Welome to Grace. …
By JanineT GRACE … on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 13:44
Concerned
By Tndiuka10 on Fri, 05/12/2023 - 21:13
Hi Caregiver and welcome to…
By JanineT GRACE … on Fri, 05/12/2023 - 14:20
Hi Bob, Welcome to Grace.  I…
By JanineT GRACE … on Tue, 05/02/2023 - 12:29