Diagnosing Lung Nodules as a Team

Transcript

When we’re evaluating a lung nodule that’s picked up incidentally, it comes as a surprise to both us and the patient. There are well-developed algorithms that radiologists and all the physicians who deal with lungs and lung cancers utilize to determine our level of suspicion that this lung nodule is representative of a cancer.

This is particularly why I think multi-disciplinary teams are so important. Because as a surgeon, I’m looking at scans with a surgeon perspective, I’m looking at where the anatomy is, where the fissures are, which lobe, how large, but my colleagues are looking at it from a different perspective. We have oncologists that think about things differently, we have pulmonologists that see all sorts of different lung problems that could account for the same lung nodule. So it really is a team sport.

Key Takeaways

1. When a lung nodule is picked up incidentally, it comes as a surprise to the doctor and the patient.

2. There are well-developed algorithms that radiologists and physicians who deal with lungs use to determine how likely the lung nodule is to be cancer.

3. Multi-disciplinary teams are so important different types of doctors are looking at it from a different perspective.