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Annual low-dose CT screening limits unnecessary surgery in patients with nonsolid lung nodules
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Nonsolid lung nodules can be safely monitored with yearly CT screenings, according to study results.
Researchers said the findings may free patients from unnecessary surgery and additional imaging.
“The results show that if we see a nonsolid lung nodule of any size, we can tell people to come back in 1 year for another CT,” study co-author Claudia I. Henschke, MD, PhD, from the department of radiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said in a press release. “These findings are important for reducing unnecessary CT scans and possible biopsies or surgery in programs of CT screening for lung cancer.”
Henschke and colleagues conducted baseline and annual repeat CT screenings on 57,496 patients to assess the frequency of identification of nonsolid nodules, diagnosis of lung cancer manifesting as nodules and the long-term outcome after treatment.
The researchers identified nonsolid nodules in 4.2% of the baseline screenings and after pathologic pursuit, 73 patients were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma.
Nonsolid nodules resolved or decreased more frequently in annual repeat screenings than in baseline rounds (322 [66%] of 485 vs 628 [26%] of 2,392, P < .0001), according to study results.
Study co-author David F. Yankelevitz, MD, Director of the Lung Biopsy Service at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, said in the release that the results could reduce the overtreatment of nodules.
“Many recommendations had been fairly aggressive with respect to nonsolid nodules,” he said. “These results show that there is no reason to be aggressive in pursuit of cancer, so long as the nodules stay in this nonsolid form.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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