Computed-Tomography Of The Pulmonary Nodule

The solitary pulmonary nodule, a circumscribed mass lesion of the lung, is a common diagnostic problem. Up to 70% of lung cancers are first discovered as solitary pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs. A lung nodule is also the most common manifestation of pulmonary granulomas and benign neoplasms and thus represents a challenge from 2 standpoints. The first challenge is reliable detection, so that early therapy can be initiated for malignant lesions, and the other is assessment of the nature of the lesions, so that unnecessary procedures can be avoided for benign conditions. CT can contribute to both detection and assessment since it can depict nodules better than conventional techniques and also provide quantitative data on the density of nodules which can help determine their etiology. These two distinct roles of CT will be discussed.