Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 76-year-old woman in what I thought was excellent health. On a recent coronary calcium CT scan that was ordered because of my age and slightly elevated cholesterol, an incidental finding was described in the report as "innumerable, tiny noncalcified pulmonary nodules bilaterally." The largest of these is in the "left lower lobe with multiple additional 2- to 4-mm nodules," and they recommended "clinical correlation and a consideration of a dedicated chest CT."

I found the report quite scary, especially considering my mother and grandfather died of lung cancer (although they were smokers and I never smoked). My primary physician has ordered the chest CT but wants to wait four weeks. She says that the nodules could be caused by inflammation or infection and might res

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