A lung nodule is a small abnormal mass of tissue that appears as round white spots on chest X-rays and CT scans. They rarely have symptoms and appear in one of every 500 chest x-rays taken when diagnosing some other ailments. So it appears to be not a problem, right? Wrong. About 40% of the lung nodules turn out to be cancerous and signal an early stage cancer.
So are these lung nodules dangerous or benign?
“Lung nodules can be either cancerous or benign. Majority (About 60%) of the nodules are benign, resulting form inflammation are scars of previous lung infections. But a minority can turn out be cancerous which can only be confirmed by diagnostic tests and imaging studies”, says the leading lung specialist in Hyderabad, Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale.
A benign lung nodule is harmless but what happen when it turnout be cancerous? What actually causes these lung nodules and what are its symptoms and how are they treated? With the inputs from lung transplant surgeon in Hyderabad, Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale, we have answered all your questions here:
Lung Nodule Causes:
Benign or cancerous lung nodules so have reasons which can vary from person to person. For example an infection or illness that inflames the lung can trigger formation of small clump of cells which eventually calcify to form a nodule in the lung.
Condition that can cause formation of lung nodules may also include air pollutants or irritants, autoimmune diseases like sarcoidosis, rheumatoid arthritis fungal infection like histoplasmosis or even respiratory conditions like tuberculosis (TB).
As for cancerous nodules, the causes are similar to the causes of cancer, which usually involve a combination of diverse factors and sometimes a string of ill fate. Lifestyle factors like smoking, exposure to carcinogens, genetic predisposition, and exposure to radiation are some of the common factors that are widely considered to be the risk factors of cancer.
Lung Nodule Symptoms
In more than 90% of the case slung nodules are identified accidentally while diagnosing other illness and respiratory conditions, according to transplant surgeon in Hyderabad, Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale. This is because majority of the lung nodules do not cause any symptoms and some nodules may cause symptoms when they grow in size and the lung nodule symptoms include shortness of breath, persistent cough, recurrent infections and chest pain.
Malignant nodules , as they grow is size pose greater problems which manifest t in the form of fatigue and weakness unexplained weight loss, respiratory infections, neurological problems, chest pain , bone pain and fractures.
What are the next steps if you have a lung nodule?
You healthcare team closely monitors the nodule to track its growth (for a 2-year period). If the nodule doesn’t grow it is less likely to be cancer and if it does, it is more closely looked at by the healthcare team. Even if the nodule turns out to be cancer it is highly likely to be an early stage cancer which is treatable with todays’ advances in medical care and cancer treatments.
