multiple nodules tested during surgery - 1265027

malki13
Posts:92

HI there,

Does anyone know how (since they are so tiny) multiple nodules 2mm in size found during surgery are biopsied to determine malignacy or not?

Thanks

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Reply # - July 18, 2014, 07:21 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

If they're visible, the surgeon can cut one or more out and send them to the pathology department. If nothing is visible, they sometimes send a wedge of lung tissue to the pathologist who can look at the tissue under a microscope and see very tini foci of disease there.

-Dr. West

Reply # - July 18, 2014, 08:42 PM

malki13
Posts: 92

Thank you Dr West,

So if the surgeon notes nodules of that size he can cut just one 2mm nodule out? Would it be prudent to do a wedge of a section of multiple tumors observed during surgery anyway to see if at least a few of them are consistent with each other? From what I understand nodules in the same lobe can show malignancy and some others dont, so I'm curious how that works....especially since these little guys don't show up on Ct scans (or maybe I'm wrong about that..not sure).

Thank you

Reply # - July 19, 2014, 04:01 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

If the nodules look similar, I don't think it would be valuable to do a wedge resection just to confirm that all of the identical appearing nodules are the same under the microscope. I would consider one or two to be representative of the entire collection of nodules.

-Dr. West

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