How to manage lung nodules

For small intrapulmonary nodules less than 5.0 mm in diameter, CT review is recommended once every 6 months and annually thereafter; for 5.0-10.0 mm intrapulmonary nodules, CT review should be performed once every 3-4 months and once every 6 months; for pulmonary nodules larger than 10.0 mm, surgical intervention should be performed by excisional biopsy of intrapulmonary nodules under minimally invasive thoracoscopy. If the growth of intrapulmonary nodules is accelerated or becomes irregular during follow-up, it is often indicative of malignant transformation. This is all the more reason for surgical treatment.  There is another kind of nodules called hairy glass-like nodules, which look like opaque frosted glass on CT film and are more special and have a very high correlation with adenocarcinoma in lung cancer. Therefore, it should be given high attention, but its diagnosis should also be analyzed based on size, density and other features. It has two scenarios: pure frosted glass nodules and partially solid (or mixed) frosted glass nodules, if it is the latter case to be treated surgically; if it is pure frosted glass nodules, it is generally considered that those below 5mm do not need to be followed up, but it should be given high priority, we do ask patients to follow up, just at longer intervals; those above 5mm are reviewed for the first time at 3 months, 6 months to see if they persist, and then annually. Then annual review is required if there are any of the following changes, including larger nodules, more mixed components in the nodules, and entry of blood vessels; hairy glass-like nodules larger than 10mm require surgery because of the possibility of carcinoma in situ or microinvasive carcinoma.  Surgery is the best means to treat cancerous lung nodules, because at this stage its lung cancer stage is early, and even without chemotherapy, the 5-year survival rate can reach 90%, that is, it can be cured.  1. For lung nodules that have been diagnosed as lung cancer or are highly suspected, they should be treated surgically, especially nodules above 8.0mm need to be operated; the possibility of malignancy below 8.0mm is relatively small, but not absent; our experience in thoracic surgery at the Ninth Hospital is to perform excision of nodules under minimally invasive thoracoscopy, freezing pathological examination during surgery, and if they are malignant, they need to undergo lobectomy, lung segment excision or wedge resection under minimally invasive thoracoscopy. resection or wedge resection, including lymph node dissection.  2, For some pulmonary nodules, which may not be palpable during surgery due to their low density, we perform CT-guided puncture localization before surgery and resection according to the localization point during surgery, with a 100% success rate.  3, There are also some benign pulmonary nodules that need to be removed surgically because of the possibility of malignancy.  4, and some nodules that are difficult to determine benign or malignant need to be followed up.  We once by a case, is a small nodule of the lung 8mm, after 8 years of follow-up observation, are no change. But then the patient herself could not stand it anymore, saying that there was a disease in her lung and she had to be reviewed every year, and this condition was a kind of torture for her, and she insisted on surgery.  There was also a case of a 6 mm ground glass nodule with a slightly mixed component. Because her father had lung cancer, she was determined to have the surgery herself, and we wanted her to have it. The pathology after surgery confirmed that it was a carcinoma in situ, and this surgery was well worth it.  Therefore, for pulmonary nodules, doctors need to be good gatekeepers for their patients, and patients also need a certain amount of determination to trust each other and cooperate with each other to face problems and solve them together.