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Am Fam Physician. 2023;107(3):282-291

Patient information: See related handout on lung nodules, written by the authors of this article.

This clinical content conforms to AAFP criteria for CME.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

Pulmonary nodules are often incidentally discovered on chest imaging or from dedicated lung cancer screening. Screening adults 50 to 80 years of age who have a 20-pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or have quit smoking within the past 15 years with low-dose computed tomography is associated with a decrease in cancer-associated mortality. Once a nodule is detected, specific radiographic and clinical features can be used in validated risk stratification models to assess the probability of malignancy and guide management. Solid pulmonary nodules less than 6 mm warrant surveillance imaging in patients at high risk, and nodules between 6 and 8 mm should be reassessed within 12 months, with the recommended interval varying by the risk of malignancy and an allowance for patient-physician decision-making. A functional assessment with positron emission tomography/computed tomography, nonsurgical biopsy, and resection should be considered for solid nodules 8 mm or greater and a high risk of malignancy. Subsolid nodules have a higher risk of cancer and should be followed with surveillance imaging for longer. Direct physician-patient communication, clinical decision support within electronic health records, and guideline-based management algorithms included in radiology reports are associated with increased compliance with existing guidelines.

The incidental discovery of pulmonary nodules on imaging studies of the chest or through dedicated screening programs for the detection of lung cancer is common. It is estimated that 1.57 million nodules are detected incidentally every year, 5% of which are malignant.1 The incidence of pulmonary nodules in lung cancer screening programs has been reported at approximately 27%, with 1.1% of patients diagnosed with lung cancer.2 Guidelines have been published to aid physicians in managing these nodules.35 Examples of benign causes of pulmonary nodules are listed in Table 1.6 All patients with a pulmonary nodule and a history of malignancy, with multiple nodules but no dominant nodule, with any pulmonary mass (i.e., lung opacity of greater than 3 cm in diameter), or who are immunocompromised should be referred to a pulmonologist for further workup.7

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