Multiple lung nodules: Might they be noncancerous? What next?

3 yrs in row CT scan , first time 9 mm solid ,18mm cloudy nodule.
Dr treatment is antibiotics for 1 week thinks infection..
3 more months CT to see if gone

What are % of cancer in 9mm nodule

Hi John, thank for the additional information. I think you’ll find this information from Veterans Affairs to be really helpful in answering some of the questions you have:
- Small Lung Nodules: What You Need to Know https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NodulesWhatYouNeedtoKnow.pdf

The article states:
“A nodule is generally considered small if it is less than 9 mm.”
“ Should I worry that I have a small nodule?
Usually a small nodule (less than 9 mm) is not a cancer, but it still could be an early cancer. The best ways to tell if a small nodule is possibly cancer are by:
1. Seeing how it looks on the LDCT scan, and
2. Seeing whether it grows over time.”
“ Most small nodules are not early lung cancer. Fewer than 5 percent of small nodules, or 5 out of 100, turn out to be cancer.”

I can imagine that you’re concerned. But it is comforting to know that 9mm is still considered small and that 95% of small nodules are not cancer. It’s also good that this was discovered and that your doctor is monitoring the situation closely. I’d like to bring @merpreb and @sueinmn into this conversation as they have experience with lung nodules and can perhaps help with what questions you might want to ask your doctor.

Hi John, thank for the additional information. I think you’ll find this information from Veterans Affairs to be really helpful in answering some of the questions you have:
- Small Lung Nodules: What You Need to Know https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NodulesWhatYouNeedtoKnow.pdf

The article states:
“A nodule is generally considered small if it is less than 9 mm.”
“ Should I worry that I have a small nodule?
Usually a small nodule (less than 9 mm) is not a cancer, but it still could be an early cancer. The best ways to tell if a small nodule is possibly cancer are by:
1. Seeing how it looks on the LDCT scan, and
2. Seeing whether it grows over time.”
“ Most small nodules are not early lung cancer. Fewer than 5 percent of small nodules, or 5 out of 100, turn out to be cancer.”

I can imagine that you’re concerned. But it is comforting to know that 9mm is still considered small and that 95% of small nodules are not cancer. It’s also good that this was discovered and that your doctor is monitoring the situation closely. I’d like to bring @merpreb and @sueinmn into this conversation as they have experience with lung nodules and can perhaps help with what questions you might want to ask your doctor.

Hi John, thank for the additional information. I think you’ll find this information from Veterans Affairs to be really helpful in answering some of the questions you have:
- Small Lung Nodules: What You Need to Know https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NodulesWhatYouNeedtoKnow.pdf

The article states:
“A nodule is generally considered small if it is less than 9 mm.”
“ Should I worry that I have a small nodule?
Usually a small nodule (less than 9 mm) is not a cancer, but it still could be an early cancer. The best ways to tell if a small nodule is possibly cancer are by:
1. Seeing how it looks on the LDCT scan, and
2. Seeing whether it grows over time.”
“ Most small nodules are not early lung cancer. Fewer than 5 percent of small nodules, or 5 out of 100, turn out to be cancer.”

I can imagine that you’re concerned. But it is comforting to know that 9mm is still considered small and that 95% of small nodules are not cancer. It’s also good that this was discovered and that your doctor is monitoring the situation closely. I’d like to bring @merpreb and @sueinmn into this conversation as they have experience with lung nodules and can perhaps help with what questions you might want to ask your doctor.

Hi John, thank for the additional information. I think you’ll find this information from Veterans Affairs to be really helpful in answering some of the questions you have:
- Small Lung Nodules: What You Need to Know https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NodulesWhatYouNeedtoKnow.pdf

The article states:
“A nodule is generally considered small if it is less than 9 mm.”
“ Should I worry that I have a small nodule?
Usually a small nodule (less than 9 mm) is not a cancer, but it still could be an early cancer. The best ways to tell if a small nodule is possibly cancer are by:
1. Seeing how it looks on the LDCT scan, and
2. Seeing whether it grows over time.”
“ Most small nodules are not early lung cancer. Fewer than 5 percent of small nodules, or 5 out of 100, turn out to be cancer.”

I can imagine that you’re concerned. But it is comforting to know that 9mm is still considered small and that 95% of small nodules are not cancer. It’s also good that this was discovered and that your doctor is monitoring the situation closely. I’d like to bring @merpreb and @sueinmn into this conversation as they have experience with lung nodules and can perhaps help with what questions you might want to ask your doctor.

Have Sue & Merp commented?

Hello - Sorry for the delay - I ran out of battery last night and never saw all the posts.
I don't have any experience with lung cancer, but I have had small nodules, in my case related to a mycobacteria infection. If the amoxycillin doesn't resolve the "ground glass" please ask them to culture your sputum, and see if you have an infection that requires a different antibiotic. People with COPD are susceptible to many different types of lung infection which can be treated.
Do you have a return appointment scheduled?
Sue

You have been so helpful! This is all new to me, although I have been through it with an autoimmune disease. I have another CT in March, and feeling good about the team. I am a little Dr fatigued, but keeping on with appointments. I'm going to PCP next week to arrange for axillary lymph node excision (it showed on petscan, where the ground glass did not!) I have I found several articles, not peer reviewed, linking thyroid nodules to low Vit D. hmmm.

Hi John, thank for the additional information. I think you’ll find this information from Veterans Affairs to be really helpful in answering some of the questions you have:
- Small Lung Nodules: What You Need to Know https://www.prevention.va.gov/docs/NodulesWhatYouNeedtoKnow.pdf

The article states:
“A nodule is generally considered small if it is less than 9 mm.”
“ Should I worry that I have a small nodule?
Usually a small nodule (less than 9 mm) is not a cancer, but it still could be an early cancer. The best ways to tell if a small nodule is possibly cancer are by:
1. Seeing how it looks on the LDCT scan, and
2. Seeing whether it grows over time.”
“ Most small nodules are not early lung cancer. Fewer than 5 percent of small nodules, or 5 out of 100, turn out to be cancer.”

I can imagine that you’re concerned. But it is comforting to know that 9mm is still considered small and that 95% of small nodules are not cancer. It’s also good that this was discovered and that your doctor is monitoring the situation closely. I’d like to bring @merpreb and @sueinmn into this conversation as they have experience with lung nodules and can perhaps help with what questions you might want to ask your doctor.