Spiculated Lung Mass: Monitoring

hi @ashscott1012 - it's always worrying when an unexpected finding shows up on imaging. cancer generally gets bigger, not smaller. that said, sometimes there can be a difference in the way a radiologist measured the mass/nodule, or a difference from machine to machine. a PET scan would give additional information (the higher the uptake, the more likely it's malignant.) but the only way to know for sure what you're dealing with is a biopsy. It's good he's seeing the pulmonologist next week. I expect they will order the PET scan (as recommended by the radiologist) and based on that result, decide what the best next step would be. please let us know how the appointment goes.

@mamajite Thank you! I will certainly update.

Ashscott1012- I notice your title states “Spiculated” lung mass. Is that what the report said? Did it give any details of the mass like , Ground glass or ground glass part solid? Where is your husband being seen? Usually it is the Pulmonologist that does the recommendations after seeing the results of a CT, not the Radiologist. (At least that has been my experience at Mayo) Does the Pulmonologist seemed concerned or are they just watching? When my Pulmonologist read mine he straight up told me I’ve seen enough of these to tell you it’s Cancer. Mine grew from 8mm to 2cm, but it took 9 years.(Thank God). But it was always a partial ground glass/ partial solid spiculated nodule. That never changed in the description. I have read in these posts about people going through similar findings and then finding out it was infection or inflammation and not cancer. I hope the same is true to your husband. 🙏❤️. Please let us know and I will pray that he is clear and NO cancer!🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Both reports stated spiculated soft tissue density with lobulated borders. The first report stated 3.1 CM and the followup report after 3 months stated 2.5 CM. But because of the slight decrease in size and persistence, a PET scan was recommended. The pulmonologist at his first visit back in Jan believed it to be an infectious process given that he had the flu over Christmas with severe symptoms and had no high risk factors. In Jan when this was first discovered, he was mainly.symptom free other than lingering cough at the time from the flu. At this time, he has no cough, illnesses, fatigue or anything that would make us concerned for anything to be malignant. It was an incidental finding due to him going to the ER in Jan thinking he was having a heart attack, but ended up with gallbladder surgery instead. It's just worrisome knowing this mass is still there, especially since it is spiculated with hardly any decrease in size if this was an infectious process. He follows up with the pulmonologist on this report Thurs. I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this. Thank you for the prayers. Praying for you as well as you continue on this journey. I will keep you updated.

@ashscott1012 Because he had the flu and gallbladder issues, I wouldn’t worry just yet. An infectious nodule from the flu or COVID or pneumonia or any lung infection, from what I’ve read- and I am not a doctor, it states they can linger for a year or more. The concern is if they continue growing. Also of course, if a biopsy states otherwise. I will continue to pray for him, that it is not cancer. I am now 3 years clear after my surgery to remove mine. Thank you for the prayers! I am ALWAYS receptive to any prayers!🙏❤️

@cmcguire10 Thank you so much. That puts my mind a little more at ease knowing it may take more time from an infectious process. I will be continuing to pray for you.

@ashscott1012 Just know that whatever it is, medicine has come such a long way! ❤️🙏✝️

@cmcguire10 Thank you so much!

Welcome @ashscott1012, it looks like you have received some great advice here already. Our lungs can take a long time to heal. The reduction in size is a good sign. I'm sure you are still worried, but know that some of this is positive news too.
Have you started a list of questions for the pulmonology appointment? Sometimes when the appointment comes, it can be easy to forget everything that you meant to ask.
A few thoughts to get you started:
Does the pulmonologist think a PET is a good next step? Radiology recommends a PET scan. Infections will 'light up' on a PET too. What are we gaining by doing the PET? (Generally, Cancer is going to light up more than infection, but that's not always true.) Once we have results of the PET, what would the next steps be?
How often do infectious nodules/masses appear as spiculated? Can you explain what that means in this case?

@lls8000 Thank you. We met with the pulmonologist initially in Jan and stated a PET scan would be useless if this was infection. She stated after the followup scan, we would go from there and be aggressive if need be. It's just worrisome that this followup scan is still persistent. We do have more questions to ask when we go Thurs. I'm hoping since she initially thought this was an infectious process, that it's just taking longer to heal. But if so, it just seems it would've decreased a lot more in size than it has.