Noticed 3 nodules on my right lung (scared to death)

I wish they would explain these scans in detail. What to expect and what the results mean before you ever have one.

The large NELSON study on lung cancer screening is the foundation for the Lung-RADS system. It grades lesions based on their probability of being malignant. Anything less than 6 mm is considered benign with a 0.5% chance of being cancer. To put that into perspective, you have a higher lifetime chance of dying crossing the street at 0.7%.

While it is not something to just ignore, it is not something you should spend any real amount of time worrying about. Just like looking both ways when crossing the street.

They are probably going to tell you to get another scan in a year. I do not even know how you got this one at 44, but because you have the lesions, they will want to follow them. They cannot even biopsy them until they are at least 8 mm, and many doctors will not try until 10 mm.

Finding lesions in lungs is common in healthy individuals. Finding them in a smoker is extremely common, and most smokers never develop lung cancer. We get sick all the time. Our lungs are subject to so much abuse beyond our control, and these are most likely artifacts from past illnesses or transient exposure.
Can't post a link but here's the studies full name .
NELSON lung cancer screening study

@edivebuddy Hi edivebuddy! I saw you post on another site and was impressed by your knowledge that you gave the person regarding his pet/ct scan. You are on lungevity and you were giving great information. I was going to log on that site just to contact you about my situation. I am so grateful and blessed that you came across my post. Edivebuddy, that is what scares me too, at 44 having 3 nodules. I read on medical and other sites that lung cancer is uncommon at someone being 44. I smoked for about 19 years, half a pack. I read usually lung cancer gets diagnosed in the 60s and 70s. I am freaking out that I am a rare case and that I will have a rare aggressive cancer and I am freaking out big time buddy. Honestly, I am. I read that you are over a 20+ year survivor! Congratulations my friend! I hope you have another 20 plus years. You are a fighter like ao many others and I Congratulate you all. What also terrifies me is that lung cancer usually happens in the upper lobes and I have 2 in the right upper lobe. I really think I have a rare and aggressive future cancer that will kill me soon. Thank you for being a friend like others that I met on here and hope to talk to you soon. My friend. Thank you

@cmcguire10 good afternoon cmcguire! First and foremost, I am sorry that you are battling lung cancer like everyone else. I really hope you are doing well and happy that you are fighting this illness. I like everything you said, except the word, yet. My anxiety has been through the roof. Thank you for describing and educating me about the different classifications of nodules. I thought nodules were universal in the way they apper. That is great that your 2 solid nodules have not changed and deemed benign, I hope mine are benign. Thank you for being a friend and happy to have a friend in you! I am grateful and blessed. Thank you for telling me not to look at sites that are not peer reviewed.

@friend777 how frustrating to have made that long drive just to be rescheduled. I'm sorry that happened. hang in there - the right doctor is worth the wait. watch out for YT - once you watch a certain kind of video, it will keep suggesting similar ones, whether they are accurate or not. there are some helpful channels provided by NIH cancer centers and a few lung cancer orgs like Go2 for lung cancer.
https://www.youtube.com/@GO2forLungCancer
but honestly - if something is giving you severe anxiety, just step away from it. focus on today and things you can control. take a walk, cook something - anything that helps you feel more grounded. I like listening to audio books because sometimes I feel anxious when I'm trying to get to sleep and they help me think about the story instead of my worries.

@friend777 -Thank you for your kind wishes! I am doing well! So far I am 3 years cancer free. I am an ex smoker as well. 30+ years a pack a day. Was actually 52 When my cancer was first found by CT from a car accident, but the hospital neglected to tell me or my doctor. 8mm ground glass spiculated nodule at that time with a tiny 2mm solid center. Found again in January of 2023. 9 years later at 22mm ground glass spiculated nodule solid center at 8mm. Luckily it was a slow growing adenocarcinoma. Had segmentectomy March of 2023. No lymph node involvement and not spread anywhere else. All my scans have noted the “tiny 3mm and 4mm solid nodules” and that they have been unchanged for many years. I have many nodules in my lungs because I had Valley Fever sometime in my life. (I never knew I had it). Many things cause nodules such as infections, pollution, etc. They are calcified which means my lungs/immune system fought whatever caused them. So that is why I say don’t worry until you HAVE to. You DON’T have cancer until they say you do!

Good eye, @mamajite.
@friend777 / @joe88, I will send you a private message to merge your two accounts into one. 🙂

@friend777

I've had stage 4b for just over 6 years. Tom on the other site is over 20.

You're right that the upper lobes are indeed more likely to be malignant. It is 0.1% more likely, but 0.6% is still less likely than being killed crossing the street in one's lifetime.

When you look at the Lung-RADS classification, it actually says benign. Radiology is a field full of hedging, so the fact that they called it that tells you the confidence level behind the guidelines. You also have no indicators that would put you at high risk of lung cancer according to the USPSTF or Medicare standards.

There is an online tool that shows your probability of having lung cancer based on the PLCOm2012 study. I can't post links here, but the short one that only asks about age and smoking history gave a 0.1% chance of developing lung cancer in the next 6 years. You can search for "PLCOm2012 selection criteria for lung cancer screening" to find it.

I'm a guy who believes that a number is only insignificant if it isn't you, but I do practice what I preach. If you read about my pneumonia, you read the scary things written across 11 days worth of scans. I'm not going to shrug any of them off, but I'm not going to stress about them either. I'm waiting 3 months for the follow-up chest CT, and I'll get a PET CT on schedule at the 6-month mark to check an area in my hip. I am worried about the hip, not because it lit up on the PET, but because it might be arthritis. I need to coordinate with my doctors, but the oncologist already had the same plan and I was worried he would want another PET.

I don't really know how to ease your mind over this. The fear is real. But the reality is that the risk is low, which is one of the main reasons they don't expand screening and why Medicare requires counseling beforehand.

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@edivebuddy Hi Edivebuddy! Thank you so much , like for everyone giving your valuable knowledge. I am sincerely grateful for the answers, even though it may terrify me. I need to hear the truth. I believe the reasons why I am going through the issues thet I am is when I was younger, my relative used to work in construction and I used to be around him all the time and from research, there is a strong chance of being exposed to abestos and then I was in the Coast Guard later on and used to be on cutter. From my research, smoking cigarettes and being exposed to that stuff elevates your chance of lung cancer dramatically.
Im sorry, my apologies, I thought you were a 20 plus survivor as well. 6, 20 or how many years, you are still a fighter and a survivor and think the most of you. Fighting this horrible illness.
Yes, the upper lobes scare me for sure and I truly believe this is my main indicator that I have a future case of malignancy. Like I said, it just causes me great fear, only 44 and having 3 nodules being reactive. Thank you for going above and beyond with the classification assessments for nodules and risk of being cancerous in 6 years being 0.1 percent. I just wish it had a option for other exposures and I believe that would significantly raise the risk percentage. I am so sorry about your hip buddy. I really hope and I will pray that you dont have arthritis. I haven't read about your pneumonia stories, I will search for sure as I find you to be such a valuable resource, like others on this forum. It truly helps having friends like yourself with experience to guide new individuals through what they once went through. Hopefully, it isn't but if it is cancer, I hope it is non small, has a biomarker, slow growing. I see the pulmonologist at city of hope in mid November, I wish I would be to have you and others on here on a zoom with me so you can ask the doctor questions that I am unaware of. Thank you again edivebuddy and love having you as a freind. Please keep in contact with me, as I ask all of you. I need friends. I pray that you get good results on your images and hope that everything will be fine. God bless you and your family. I find it so great from reading your story, told your doctor years ago that you aren't ready to go yet, you wanted to see your grandchildren graduate college. Your the man buddy. Big hugs my friend.

@cmcguire10 Hi Cmcguire! You are so welcome my friend. You like everyone on here deserve the well wishes. Big hugs. Congratulations on being a 3 yr survivor, big high five to you girl. That is awesome news. Wow, you used to smoke over 30+ years? Jeez, lol. I thought i was a smoker, you smoked me lol. Wait, what? The hospital didnt tell you that there was a finding on your CT? The radiology report indicated that there was a finding of a nodule or mass on your report, right? Did you proceed with any medical negligence legal issues? Wow, for 9 years, you went unbeknownst and the nodule grew to 22mm?! Holy moly! Like you said, thankfully it was slow growing or if it was aggressive, you would have a tumor the size of a freaking basketball. That is absolutely nuts. Thank you so much for your detail in nodule classification. You are a walking nodule expert. Like I said previously, I thought a nodule was a nodule and universal in there appearance. Like I said to edivebuddy, what causes me great concern is having 3 nodules in total, giving 3 chances of having lung cancer and what makes it worse is having 2 nodules in the upper lobes. I wish I can give you a big hug. Thank you so much my friend for your help and blessed to have you as a friend. I am glad you quit smoking!

@mamajite Hi Mamajite! Thank you so much for your response! It was horrible, driving all that way for it to be canceled. The drive didnt cause me the issue, the issue was not being able to see the provider and express my drastic anxiety about the possibility of malignancy. He seems like the right doctor, that is why I am not causing havoc as he seems extremely knowledgeable from his qualifications and reviews of his patients. Thank you so much for the links, I will definitely search them and become knowledgeable about the subject matter. I really appreciate in telling me to get my mind off of it for awhile, trust me I have tried but I also suffer from extreme OCD and one of the symptoms is impending doom. I always think the worst possible outcome. I am just so fixated on this, it is hard to not think of it. You should see how many window tabs on my phone and on my computer about this stuff. It would shock you to see how many I have. Like I mentioned to my other friend edivebuddy, thank you so much for your support and friendship! Big hugs to you.