Sot on lung.

[tommyyb]

My wife just had a chest xray and it showed a spot about the size of the end of an ink pen. I;m sure they are now going to send for a CAT scan. The spot was white does that mean good or bad?

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

A nodule on the lung could be due to various causes -
'Benign neoplasms - Hamartomas, lipomas, and fibromas
-Vascular lesions - Arteriovenous malformation
-Infectious granulomas - Tuberculosis, atypical mycobacterial infection, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, and blastomycosis
-Other infections - Aspergilloma, ascaris, dirofilariasis, echinococcal cyst, and bacterial abscess
-Noninfectious granulomas - Rheumatoid arthritis, Wegener granulomatosis, and sarcoidosis
-Developmental lesions - Bronchogenic cyst
-Others conditions - Hematoma, bronchiolitis obliterans-organizing pneumonia, pseudotumor, pulmonary infarction, amyloidoma, rounded atelectasis, and mucoid impaction'

This is just to let you know that further assessment would be required to come to a diagnosis and plan the further management.

What are the symptoms? Is there any cough , breathlessness, weight loss, etc?

Let us know about the details and any other queries that you might have.

Regards.

[JosePerez]

I've had a cough for about a year or more now and went to the hospital and the ER doctor told me that I had what seems to be a little bronchitics and border line asthma, whatever that means! and that is what the little white round spots were. I have no insurance I followed up with a Free Clinic doctor who saw the copies of the hospital I picked up earlier. He noticed the white spots, I asked him, could it be cancer? he said its in the back of his mind but it could be a lot of things. THIS SCARE THE **** OUT OF ME. I'm on a z-pac 5 day antibiotic, steroid pills,inhaler, cough suppressant and decongestant. Had some basic labs done and said to come back in a month to see if I still have the cough. It's gotten better but the white round little spots on the xray is stressing me out to the point where I feel I do have cancer. They also did a TB test at the clinic and it came back neg. Also he mentioned if it phenomina I would have a fever but I don't. I do feel tired but it could be from stressing out too much. I have NO insurance either so I'm on my own on this. I'm 25, m, married with 3 children. The spots are a little smaller then a pea and some 1/4 the size of a pea, looks like perfectly round and solid, I also saw what seems to be a white vortex that looks like a space black bole or something. I SCARED because everything I read points to lung cancer or something BAD. I don't want to die young... please help! I smoked for maybe a year in my teens and thats it.

[tommyyb]

Just found out the size of the spot. It is 5mm and is a defind spot which appears very round.

[riley180]

The whiteness on the Xray is a function of density. The more dense, the whiter it is (bone being the most dense is the most white, and air in the lung the least is  black).  
Whether it is bad news or not is hard to say. It is possible that the area may only be an old scar from a previous infection  or it could mean an underlying malignancy.  The CT would likely be done if the area is far from the heart (peripherally located), an alternative means of investigation is through  a scope that can be inserted into the lung from the nose or mouth if the spot is centrally located.