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Non Calcified Lung Nodules?
I am a 35 year old female with no history of smoking, other than second hand smoke from my parents when I was a child. For 2 years now I have had 4 very tiny non calcified lung nodules. Histoplasmosis (sp?) was expected but the lung specialist said t
I am a 35 year old female with no history of smoking, other than second hand smoke from my parents when I was a child. For 2 years now I have had 4 very tiny non calcified lung nodules. Histoplasmosis (sp?) was expected but the lung specialist said that they would calcify if this is what they were caused from. He also said they are too small to biopsy. Can you tell me what is usually done when nodules continue to not calcify? And if they are too small to biopsy? So far I have had ct scans every 6 months, with the same results.
Thank you!
Best answer:
To reassure you, in my experience, your follow up care sounds pretty standard. This is what I found from the experts:
If the non-calcified nodules seen on screening were confirmed and were non-calcified on the diagnostic CT, further work-up was recommended, depending on the size (average of length and width) of the nodule:
nodules 5 mm or less: follow up with high resolution CT scans at 3 mos, 6 mos, 12 mos and 24 mos as long as there was no growth. http://www.journalclub.org/vol2/a71.html...
If a nodule is found on a screening CT scan, than a decision is made to either biopsy the nodule if it appears suspicious for cancer, or to repeat a CT scan within 6 to 12 weeks to determine if the nodule has grown. Should the nodule grow, this is highly suspicious for malignancy, and a recommendation to biopsy the nodule is warranted. If on the other hand the nodule remains stable in size, and does not change, then continued observation is recommended. http://www.columbiasurgery.org/divisions...
Best answer:
Registered CT technologist for 15 years....
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