In the study titled ‘A Large Retrospective Cohort Study on the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias in Association with Vascular Diseases and Cancer Therapy in Men with Prostate Cancer’, researchers analyzed 1,693 patients with confirmed primary lung cancer who had at least two chest CT scans before diagnosis.
Tumours were considered fast-growing if they doubled in size or mass in less than 400 days.
The study found that 18% of patients had fast-growing cancers. Solid nodules were especially aggressive, with 41% growing quickly, compared to just 9% of subsolid lesions. Key factors associated with rapid growth included solid tumour density, male sex, smoking history, and personal or family history of cancer.
Smoking stood out as a consistent risk factor, driving faster tumour growth in both solid and subsolid nodules. Genomic analysis in 128 patients also showed that mutations in the TP53 gene were linked to aggressive tumour behavior, affecting roughly 18% of that subgroup.
These findings highlighted the need to combine clinical, imaging, and genetic information to identify patients at higher risk. Those with solid nodules, a history of smoking, or cancer in the family may require closer imaging follow-up.
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