What are lung nodules and what causes them?

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
What are lung nodules and what causes them?]

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[Text on screen: Jasleen Pannu, MBBS
Pulmonary and critical care medicine physician
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Jasleen Pannu, MBBS: Lung nodules are small spots on the lung, less than three centimeters in size. They can be completely round or irregular, and they can be due to either a malignant or a benign cause. Fortunately, most of the times the cause is benign. Most often, the lung nodule does not create any signs or symptoms. It's very small and it's too small to create any kinds of sign or symptoms. If there are signs, they are because the nodule happens to be close to an airway, so it may cause coughing, sometimes small amounts of bleeding or just some shortness of breath. But just because the size of the nodule is so small, a lot of times it's completely silent.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
For more information, visit: wexnermedical.osu.edu/lungnodule]

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