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Small lung nodules: How often should they be monitored?
Lung Health | Last Active: Jun 16, 2023 | Replies (67)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for your reply. My first nodule was found incidentally on an abdominal CT scan. I had a follow-up dedicated chest CT scan that revealed the 0.7 cm nodule in the other lung. I am reading everything I can find online. I've also read most of the lung nodule posts here. I found the Brock and Mayo Clinic Pulmonary Nodule calculators and they would indicate that my chance of this being lung cancer is somewhere between 2 1/2% and 4 1/2%. I'm finding some comfort in that but am really anxious that I can't find a pulmonologist appointment until April. I would like to find more information about causes other than cancer. I did have pneumonia in 2017. I also have chronic rhinitis. Can mucus mimic (or cause) a nodule? By the way, my radiology report notes mild curvilinear atelectasis or scar in the lingula. Beyond a very basic definition, I can't find much information on that or information on whether the atelectasis can be associated with the nodules.
Replies to "Thank you for your reply. My first nodule was found incidentally on an abdominal CT scan...."
Worrying is normal. I call it strategic thinking. Evaluating what you are dealing with and preparing a course of action is a productive way to deal with challenges. I had to wait 12 days to get a local Pulmonologist appointment which I needed to order CT and PET scans. I had solid, subsolid, part solid nodules, ground glass and other stuff on the scans, and a hot PET scan. The scan reports said it could be cancer-and it was. Check out the background of the Pulmonologist you will see. My local Pulmonologist lacked expertise, and I immediately went elsewhere as soon as I had the scan reports. I had already lined up my next moves. I knew what my insurance would let me do.
@hatshepsut- I don't know enough about changes in lung tissues and what it all means to offer you an intelligent answer. I suggest that you ask your doctor and find out what the next step will be for you and what he thinks the GG indicates. Chances are (?) that he will want to wait and have you have a chest CT scan in a few months. Please don't pay attention to numbers right now since the nodules are very small and at this point, no one knows anything more than you.
Have you spoken to your doctor about what he wants to do?
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@hatshepsut- Good morning. Sue is right, GG (ground glass) is just a description for a cell change. With any cell change, there is also a concern. We are people, not numbers. And doctors really can't tell you either. I have lung cancer and have had it for over 24+ years. There are no reliable odds for that because when I was diagnosed it was 1997. The "odds" then were 18 months.
There's an old saying: Probability is not prediction. Correlation is not causation.
May I ask why you were having a CT of your stomach?