The Vexing Problem of Small Pulmonary Nodules

In this issue, Tang et al. [1] from Taiwan report on an increasingly important issue in thoracic medicine and surgery, the natural history of small, asymptomatic lung nodules. The widespread use, over the last couple of decades, of increasingly sensitive computed tomography (CT) scans with reducing radiation dose has resulted in the recognition of a significant population of otherwise healthy patients who have a lung nodule of undefined nature. In most cases, this lung nodule has been detected at the time of a CT scan for a completely different issue —atypical chest pain, back pain, shoulder pain, and often for investigation of abdominal symptoms where the CT scan picks up a lesion in the lower zone of the lung.
Source: Heart, Lung and Circulation - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research