Lung nodules are common, and the majority turn out to be benign, or noncancerous. They can form for many reasons \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether a nodule needs further evaluation depends on factors like its size, whether it\u2019s growing over time, and a patient\u2019s individual risk factors, such as smoking history. If there\u2019s concern, pulmonologists may recommend a biopsy to determine whether it\u2019s cancerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biopsy is done under anesthesia and takes about 90 minutes,\u201d Dr. Kennedy-Schwed says, noting he gets patients in quickly, usually within a week. \u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the physician collects tissue samples, they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s satisfying to be able to give our patients an answer, to find out what the nodule is,\u201d Dr. Kennedy-Schwed says. \u201cWe\u2019re very experienced, and that\u2019s what makes our results so precise and our safety record so strong. It\u2019s true of any medical procedure: the more you do, the better you become.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lung nodules are common, and the majority turn out to be benign, or noncancerous. They can form for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-262658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}