Evaluating & Managing Lung Nodules, by Dr. David Yankelevitz

[Guest LCSC Info]

Evaluating & Managing Lung Nodules, by Dr. David Yankelevitz

http://blog.lungevity.org/2011/12/11/ev ... g-nodules/

December 11th, 2011 - by Dr. Jack West

GRACE and LUNGevity recently did a webinar program with Dr. David Yankelevitz, Professor of Radiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, who spoke about “Pulmonary Nodules: Evaluation and Management”. He covered the history of CT scans and their ongoing development, their increasing use in both formal screening programs and informal workup of many other medical settings, and the ways that good radiologists distinguish nodules with higher vs. lower risk features. Finally, he discussed CT guided biopsies of these nodules.

A critical point that Dr. Yankelevitz made is that the clear majority of detected lung nodules aren’t cancer, and as our CT scanners get more sensitive, we’re going to be finding nodules in just about everyone. But when they’re that common, it’s not really appropriate to call them abnormal.

Click on the blog link above to find the podcast in audio and video formats, along with the transcript and figures.

I hope it’s helpful, especially for the many people struggling with the anxiety of just being told that you have lung nodules that need further evaluation but may not be cancer. It’s a scary thing to hear, but knowledge is power.