Lung nodules are common, and the majority turn out to be benign, or noncancerous. They can form for many reasons — most often scarring left behind by a past lung infection, such as a fungal infection or tuberculosis. They can also originate from benign growths called hamartomas, inflammatory conditions, or old injuries.
Whether a nodule needs further evaluation depends on factors like its size, whether it’s growing over time, and a patient’s individual risk factors, such as smoking history. If there’s concern, pulmonologists may recommend a biopsy to determine whether it’s cancerous.
“The biopsy is done under anesthesia and takes about 90 minutes,” Dr. Kennedy-Schwed says, noting he gets patients in quickly, usually within a week. “A CT scan gives us a map of the airways, and we use that map to navigate close to the nodule. The robotic procedure is very safe, with a low complication rate.”
Once the physician collects tissue samples, they’re sent to the pathology lab, where a pathologist examines them. Results are usually available in three to seven days, and about a week later, a pulmonologist meets with the patient to discuss the findings.
“It’s satisfying to be able to give our patients an answer, to find out what the nodule is,” Dr. Kennedy-Schwed says. “We’re very experienced, and that’s what makes our results so precise and our safety record so strong. It’s true of any medical procedure: the more you do, the better you become.”