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Anyone been told they have lung nodules during routine testing?
Lung Health | Last Active: Sep 29 1:31pm | Replies (60)Comment receiving replies
@fotula For reference, 3mm is less than the size of lead in a fine point mechanical pencil, less than 1/8 inch. You can understand these are too small to biopsy, so watching is the prudent path.
Most pulmonologists use the combination of size and your health history to decide how often to do a CT. It is a balancing act - weighing risk of additional radiation against risk of the nodule being malignant.
My lungs are imaged once every 2 years now because my lung disease is considered stable.
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@sueinmn I had my initial diagnosis of stage 4 appendix cancer in August 2021 (4 years ago). Since my 1st diagnostic CT scan I had nodules show up on my lungs. They’ve been there ever since, with no changes. They are one thing carefully monitored in my PET-CT scans.
I recently changed from quarterly to 6 monthly scans (risk of scan radiation causing blood cancer outweighed by my recurrence risks and aggressiveness of my cancer), but with blood tests (canary in the coal mine) still quarterly.
My lung nodules have also never been biopsied, just monitored.