A netizen left a message: Does the physical examination reveal lung shadows and nodules? What should we pay attention to in life? Will it affect lifespan?
Lung shadow is a general concept, including lung nodules, fibrous foci, inflammation, tumors, dysplasia, etc.
In adults, most have lung shadows, and most are benign, and most do not require special treatment.
Let’s give an example below, and everyone will understand it after reading it in 2 minutes.
1. Lung shadows and pulmonary nodules that do not need to be ignored
The lungs are respiratory organs, and many adults develop lung shadows with age, inhalation of dust particles, smoking and secondhand smoke, colds, and lung inflammation.
The most common ones are fibrous foci, calcification foci, benign pulmonary nodules, etc., which have little effect on the body and should not be ignored.
This is a middle-aged man with years of diabetes and poor glycemic control who developed a right lung abscess (within the aperture) three years ago with cavity formation.
After he was hospitalized and treated with aggressive and effective antibiotics, the abscess was absorbed, leaving a small white line of fibrous foci in the lungs:
These fibrous lesions are benign, have no effect on lung function, do not affect life expectancy, and do not require special treatment.
However, people with diabetes must control their diet, regulate blood sugar and monitor their blood sugar regularly, because high sugar levels will reduce the chemotaxis and phagocytosis of immune cells in the lungs, weaken immune function, and accelerate the reproduction of bacteria. , prone to lung infection.
This young man often stays up late to go to Internet cafes and eat instant noodles. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis a year ago.
Through standard anti-tuberculosis treatment, the lesions are absorbed, but some fibrous calcifications and pulmonary nodules are permanently left in the lungs. It is also good to have regular review.
Many young people like to smoke, stay up late, and go to Internet cafes. When their resistance decreases, they are easily infected with tuberculosis. In severe cases, the spread of tuberculosis may even be life-threatening. To get rid of bad habits, scientific entertainment.
2. Lung shadows and pulmonary nodules that need regular review
Some lung lesions are at risk of progression or even transformation into cancer and require regular monitoring.
Small ground-glass pulmonary nodules like this are relatively common, and generally should be guided by a doctor, and regular review is preferred.
If a nodule grows slowly on follow-up, aggressive management is often required.
Early-stage lung cancer can be cured! After the operation, you can find some lung breathing exercises on the Internet, buy a few balloons to exercise lung function, prevent colds, and increase nutrition appropriately.
But pulmonary ground glass nodules are very common and don’t need anxiety. For example, the following patient took 7 years to have surgery, and it’s fine:
This middle-aged man was found to have a right subpleural ground glass lung nodule in 2014, about 1.5 cm.
Because of the low density, he opted for regular review.
The nodule grows very slowly. It was not until last year that the nodule grew to 2.1 cm and was hospitalized for minimally invasive surgery. It was a well-differentiated lung adenocarcinoma (LPA) strong>, no postoperative chemotherapy is needed, just regular review.
Many ground-glass pulmonary nodules are stable for a long time and do not require treatment if there is no change in the reexamination.
Some people like to take traditional Chinese medicine remedies to eliminate nodules. We tracked few cases and found no effective cases of remedies, but we encountered two patients with drug-induced liver disease.
3. Lung shadows and nodules that need to be dealt with as soon as possible
Some lung lesions have sufficient evidence of malignancy and require immediate surgical treatment.
Like this patient, a cystic lesion in the upper right lung with irregular solid components and pleural traction on the edge suggests cystic lung cancer and requires immediate surgery.
At this time, the precautions in life are not important. The most important thing is to surgically remove the lesions as soon as possible and not give the cancer cells a chance to metastasize.
He later underwent surgery for a lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary growth elements (representing poorly differentiated).
I had chemotherapy after surgery, and it has been more than 6 years now, and I am recovering very well.
Simple summary:
1. Lung shadows and pulmonary nodules are more benign than malignant, and most do not require treatment.
2. For suspicious malignant lesions, follow the doctor’s guidance and handle them in a scientific and standardized manner.
I am Dr. Imaging Kehao, welcome to follow!