New Pulmonary Nodules. Tip of Iceberg

Lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related death. Lung cancer starts as a small growth and can be identified as a nodule on CT scans. In the last ten years, several large trials have shown the benefit of screening for lung cancer using low dose CT scan in high-risk individuals. Not all nodules are cancers, although the risk increased exponentially with the size of nodules. There are several published guidelines for management of lung nodules. Most nodules detected either incidentally or during lung cancer screening are less than one centimeter long and will only need follow up CT scan to identify growth. In follow up CT scans new nodules, which are not present in the previous scan can be detected and care called new pulmonary nodules. These nodules are considered to be fast growing and have more potential for being lung cancer. There is a lack of literature about optimal management of these new pulmonary nodules. In this article, we review the incidence of new nodules and the risk of lung cancer from these new nodules.