multiple pulmonary nodules

Posted to this group in the past about my multiple pulmonary nodules.

Just got back from the doctor this afternoon and am not sure what to
think.

To review: 37 year old ex smoker with a twelve to fifteen pack year
history. Quit for eight years, but last Summer was smoking three to
five Swisher Sweet cigars a week for about four months. Unfortunately,
I was inhaling them. Have multiple pulmonary nodules scattered
throughout my lungs. Noncalcified (previously I thought some were
calcified). The largest is 5 mm and another is 3X5 and I think I have
some 4 mm ones in there too. Have six plus. Not sure how many because
part of the report says 2-4 mm nodules scattered throughout lower right
lobe.

The report from the three month scan said that the two largest ones
"showed no significant changes". (The numbers are larger; for example
the largest one was 4mm in the first report and in the most recent it
is 5 mm, but the radiologist said that this nodule showed no
significant change so I was thinking that it was a matter of
perception.) It appears that she only looked at the two largest ones.
The part that worries me is that it seems that there are new
noncalcified nodules popping up. By that I mean that the first CT scan
said that I had a 1-2mm nodule in my lower right lobe. Now I have
scattered 2-4mm nodules in my lower right lobe. Don't know exactly how
many scattered is, but I imagine that I have a few nodules that weren't
documented three months earlier.

Is it common for nodules to be popping up like this, or is it often
caused by one CT scan catching them and another not?

Let's say they are new. Would cancer typically act this way, producing
new nodules?

My doctor suggested that I should get it biopsied to put my mind at
ease, but I'm leary at this point.

Brian

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: multiple lung nodules
    ... > nodules are benign. ... > Got home, looked up multiple pulmonary nodules on the web, and now I'm ... > usually caused by metastatic disease and only rarely are benign. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)
  • Re: multiple pulmonary nodules
    ... I have seen situations in my own CTs or MRIs when the radiologist failed to write up lesions or other features on earlier films only to be discovered on later films. ... Not sure how many because part of the report says 2-4 mm nodules scattered throughout lower right lobe. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)
  • multiple lung nodules
    ... A recent CT scan revealed that I have four or five nodules scattered ... Got home, looked up multiple pulmonary nodules on the web, and now I'm ... usually caused by metastatic disease and only rarely are benign. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)