My father went for a recent chest X-ray, a small shadow was found and he is waiting to have a scan, he has lost some weight, he stopped smoking 9 years ago after many years of being a smoker, he has had pneumonia twice, once when he was a baby and another time when he was in his late 50s, I m so worried, is it likely to be lung cancer??
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. Shadow on the chest x-ray is very tricky and needs CT THORAX if1. Patient is past heavy smoker2. Age more than 50 years CT SCAN is must. Depending on CT findings we can plan further lone of management. If shadow is 1. Irregular in shape and having irregular margins2. Absence of calcification3. Enlarged lymph nodes in mediastinum etc. than possibility of malignant nodule is more. And we need to get done biopsy from the lesion to rule out cancer and reach to final diagnosis. So CT THORAX is must in his case.