What Happens After a Lung CT Scan?

The goal of the screening is to detect lung cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages, which gives patients a better outlook. When doctors identify lung cancers on CT screening scans before patients show any symptoms, the prognosis is more favorable.

“The evidence from four large clinical trials have demonstrated that high-risk individuals screened with low-dose CT scans are associated with lower lung-cancer-specific mortality rates,” says Matthew Schabath, PhD, a senior member in the departments of cancer epidemiology and thoracic oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

“It is fast, painless, and is covered by Medicare and by most healthcare plans,” Dr. Schabath says.

While the test itself is simple, what happens afterward can be more complicated. Sometimes more testing is needed. You may receive a false-positive result, where the CT reveals a nodule but further workup shows that it’s not cancerous. Or you may face the most serious result of the CT scan: a cancer diagnosis. Here’s what you need to know about the testing process.

A technician will talk to you and might instruct you to hold your breath at specific times.

The test is painless and takes only about five minutes. Most of the time, patients get their results the same day or within a few days.

Once your results are in, your doctor will discuss the findings with you.

If your lung CT scan results are normal, that means your lungs are clear, and you won’t need another screening until your next yearly exam.

Your doctor will analyze certain features of the nodule to determine if it’s more or less likely to be cancerous.

If a repeat scan reveals that the nodule has grown or changed, your healthcare provider might recommend that you have a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to get a better look.

In some cases, a biopsy is recommended. A biopsy involves removing a sample of tissue to examine under a microscope and possibly be used for additional testing.

• Needle Biopsy With this procedure, a needle is inserted through the chest wall into the lung to take out a sample of tissue. Imaging technology may be used to guide the biopsy needle into the correct spot.
• Transbronchial Biopsy This is done with a bronchoscope — a long, thin tube with a camera on the end. The scope is placed down the throat through the windpipe and into the main airways of the lungs. Transbronchial biopsies might be guided by navigational or robotic technologies.

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• Thoracoscopic Biopsy This method involves placing an endoscope — a flexible, lighted tube — into the chest cavity. Tools used through the scope remove small pieces of lung tissue.
• Open Biopsy A surgical incision in the skin is made to get to the lung and remove a piece of tissue. This method is typically used if the sample obtained from a needle biopsy is too small to make an accurate diagnosis.

There are risks involved with lung biopsies, which vary depending on the type of biopsy you have. Some possible complications are infection, bleeding in the lung, air or fluid buildup in the space between the lung and inner chest wall, blood clots, pneumonia, and pain.

If the results of your biopsy reveal that the tissue is cancerous, you and your physician will work together to come up with an optimal treatment plan.

A downside to CT screening for lung cancer is that the test can have false-positive findings that lead to unnecessary medical procedures.

For instance, your doctor might spot a nodule that looks suspicious, but after further testing, turns out not to be cancerous. Sometimes, biopsies or surgeries are performed when they aren’t needed. False positives also trigger unwarranted anxiety and stress for patients.

If tests confirm you have lung cancer, there are certain measures you can take to live a better and longer life.

“Many factors have been shown to be associated with longer survival time among patients diagnosed with lung cancer,” Schabath says. “Maintaining or adopting a healthy lifestyle has been shown to benefit patients, including healthy diets, physical activity and exercise, maintaining your weight — excessive weight loss is detrimental for lung cancer patients— and of course smoking cessation.”

• A lung CT scan is a simple procedure that can identify nodules in your lungs.
• A small, suspicious nodule might only require additional follow-up screening. A larger nodule of concern might require additional testing, such as a biopsy.
• False-positive results are possible, but the rates of false-positives from a lung CT scan have been declining.
• For those who receive a lung cancer diagnosis, modern treatments have improved survival rates for many patients, especially when detected early.