To analyze the clinical value of high-resolution CT combined with chest plain film in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary ground-glass nodules for increasing the early detection rate of pulmonary ground-glass nodules and providing imaging bases for clinical reasonable treatment.

A total of 860 patients with pulmonary ground-glass nodules which were confirmed by surgical pathological results or puncture biopsy from January 2018 to December 2019 were selected as the research objects. All the patients underwent chest plain film and high-resolution CT examination before surgery, and both the high-resolution CT and the chest plain film showed the signs of pulmonary nodules. The results of surgical pathology and puncture biopsy were recorded. The main signs of chest plain film and high-resolution CT of the patients were observed, too. The values of single and combined examination methods in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary ground-glass nodules were analyzed.

A total of 385 cases were diagnosed as malignant lesions out of the 860 patients, of which 289 cases were confirmed by surgical pathology and 96 cases were confirmed by puncture biopsy, including 135 cases of adenocarcinoma in situ, 155 cases of minimally invasive adenocarcinoma, 72 cases of invasive adenocarcinoma and 23 other cases, with a malignant rate of 44.8%. The results of chest plain film of the 860 cases of pulmonary ground-glass nodules showed that the range of the pulmonary nodules′diameter was 1.0-3.0 cm. The distribution of the pulmonary nodules was described as follows: 326 cases located in the left lungs and 534 cases located in the right lungs. The results of high-resolution CT showed that there was no statistical difference in the size of focus between the benign and malignant pulmonary ground-glass nodules (P>0.05). The proportions of irregular shape, spicule sign, lobulation sign, clear and smooth interface, vocule sign, and bronchus sign in the malignant nodules were higher than those of the benign group (P<0.05). The areas under the curves of chest plain film, high-resolution CT alone and combined diagnosis of pulmonary ground-glass nodules were 0.847, 0.876, and 0.940, respectively, all of which were greater than 0.8, indicating good diagnostic values. And the area under the curve of combined diagnosis was the largest.

Chest plain film combined with high-resolution CT and pathological examination are of great value in improving the accuracy of differential diagnosis of early benign lesions and malignant pulmonary ground-glass nodules.