What Do Nodules In Chest Indicate?

Posted on Wed, 13 Aug 2014

Question: I recently had a chest xray done because of a chronic cough myself and my children have had. The nurse told me that I have 2 vague white nodules showing on my chest xray. I asked her what that meant and she said the dr. had written down vague so she didn't have any further information. I am a 44 year old, female, non smoker. Thank you!!! I am so scared!

Answered by Dr. Dr. Muhammad Sareer Khalil (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
followup n previous xrays to exclude nodule growth

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome,

I really appreciate your concern.

Calcification of the nodule points to a benign diagnosis.

The first step is to look for the nodules in previous x rays , if they are old nodules and their size has not increased plus the patient is a low risk individual , criteria being

less than 35 years age
NON SMOKER

then the 2 nodules could be followed by chest x rays every three months for 2 years and stop then if there is no growth.

If the patient is > 50 years old plus smoker or
if the doctor has clinical suspicion based on overall condition of the patient then

the best diagnostic procedure is an open lung biopsy and nodule removal at the same time.

Remember, incidental Lymph node enlargement can show up on an x ray especially in the HILAR region and may not have any significance, may be related to an immune response to an infection

let me know if you have any query,
if not, please close the discussion and rate the answer.
thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D