Those of you who read the reports of your chest cat scans may have noticed the term “ground glass opacities” described in the interpretation of the scan by the radiologist. We discuss these findings with our patients during their follow up visits to review their test findings but often patients will call the office with concerns about these findings before their visit.
Of course, these concerns usually focus around the potential that these findings may indicate a lung cancer. The finding of ground glass opacities occurs often because of the many patients with smoking histories that
are being screened for lung cancer with an annual cat scan of the chest. Ground glass opacities may represent the early findings of a lung cancer, but they also may reflect findings associated with inflammation from other causes. It is not uncommon for the findings of ground glass opacities to go away on subsequent follow up cat scans.
All of this begs the question of how to deal with these findings. Do we watch them? Do we send patients for invasive tests? Do we have them removed?
Recent studies have shown that, depending on the size and advancing density of the area, careful cat scan follow up resulted in the same degree of outcome as surgical removal. Still to be determined is whether or not some type of bronchoscopy such as navigational bronchoscopy would produce a more accurate and timely diagnosis. Talk to your doctor if ground glass is found on your cat scan.
