Rales in Lower Lunds

For the past two winters I have had pneumonia.  I developed lung nodules after the most recent bout with it and I have chest CT scans every six months to check for any changes.  Now whenever any of my doctors listen to my lungs, they say they hear rales in the lower lobes of each lung.  I feel fine and the scans have been clean except for the nodules.  All blood work has been fine.  They say it is not pneumonia.  Does anyone know what would cause these sounds in the lungs?  And input would be sincerely appreciated.

[National Jewish]

Rales, also called crackles, are breath sounds that originate in diseased portions of the lung.  They can be heard through a stethoscope or analyzed through electronic "listening" devices.  They occur in a number of diseases including, but not limited to, cystic fibrosis, heart failure, lung scarring, and pneumonia.

The rales your doctors hear are, in all likelihood, caused by microscopic scarring of the area of the lung that was affected by the pneumonia.  Your doctors are right when they say that the rales are not a sign of active or recurrent pneumonia.

These rales may remain indefinitely.  Based on the test results you describe, they are probably nothing to worry about.

[phatyman17]

Narda, I wish I could help you but I can't.   However I was hoping to talk to you.  I believe you were the one that post (some time ago) that your pulmonologist stated that it was not unusual to have nodes (nodules) show up after having pneumonia. Wondering if you could elaborate on that.  I had pneumonia about 3 months ago and now have a large mass on my lung.  Just wondering if they could be related?  (Are nodules and masses the same thing?)

Anyway any help you could give would be appreciated.

[Narda99]

Are you having chest scans for the mass, or is your doctor keeping an eye on it with x-rays?  I can only state that my lung doctor told me it was not unusual to find nodules after pneumonia.  I beleive they are samll areas of infection left as residue from the infection.  Please keep in touch.

[phatyman17]

Thanks Narda for the reply.  I have an appointment with a surgeon on Monday to see what to do.  I have a tumor (I guess anything less than 3cm is a nodule, larger is a tumor, at least that's what I seem to find) 3.4cm X 3.7cm that was found during a CT scan last week.  I know I should just relax and wait to see what the surgeon says but I've never been one to just sit back and let things happen.

I'm hanging my hopes on the fact that I had pretty bad pneumonia about 3 months ago and hope that it has something to do with that.  I'm also hanging my hat on the fact that I had an x-ray 9 months ago and it showed nothing (weak I know) So I'm bugging every web site I can for information.

Thanks again for replying.

[Narda99]

Good Luck with your doctor's appointment.  I understand your concern, but since you have had a clean x-ray recently, it is my feeling that this is something related to the bad case of pneumonia.  I live in fear that I will get another bad case of it this winter.