In the last 30 years computed tomography, also known as CAT scan, has greatly changed the way health problems are detected, diagnosed and prevented. Sometimes the scans can even shed light on health concerns a patient may be completely unaware of.

Dr. Sunil Pammi is a pulmonary critical care specialist with Lee Memorial Health System. He says, “Sometimes incidentally patients with no symptoms at all will find little nodules on their lung. There are certain things we look for in these nodules so one of the things is the size, shape, the characteristic under the CT can we use little sensitive markers to look and see what kind of density they are.”

Based on those findings combined with a probability test that focuses on malignancy, the specialist and the patient will move forward with a treatment plan. “If the patient is on the elderly side, if they’ve smoked, if they’ve had prior cancer, or they’ve had other constitutional symptoms that are constitutional with cancer like weight loss or coughing up blood, then we take those more seriously,” says Dr. Pammi. Generally speaking if the nodules are small in size, well rounded, and the patient seems to be at low risk, a specialist will follow the patient for about two years.

A CAT scan is recommended every three months for the first year and every six months for the next year. If a lung nodule does not increase over a period of time its chances of being malignant are slim.