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Management of incidental pulmonary nodule in CT: a survey by the Italian College of Chest Radiology

  • CHEST RADIOLOGY
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study is to present the results of the Italian survey on the management of pulmonary nodules incidentally identified at computed tomography (CT).

Materials and methods

An online electronic survey, consisting of 23 multiple-choice questions, was created using the SurveyMonkey web-based tool. The questionnaire was developed by the Board of the Italian College of Chest Radiology of the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM) and by an experienced group of Italian Academic Chest Radiologists. The link to the online electronic survey was submitted by email to all the SIRM members.

Results

A total of 767 radiologists, corresponding to 7.5% of all the SIRM members, participated in the online survey. The majority of participants (92%) routinely describe the attenuation of pulmonary nodules in the report, and 84.1% recommend the further follow-up, with 92.7% of respondents taking CT nodule morphological features into consideration. The 57.7% of participants adhere to the Fleischner Society guidelines for the management of incidental pulmonary nodules. However, 56.6% and 75.6% of respondents have a more cautious approach than that recommended by the guidelines and tend to use a shorter follow-up for both solid and ground-glass nodules, respectively. Finally, 94.5% of participants favor congresses and refresher courses dedicated to insights on lung nodule diagnosis and management.

Conclusions

This survey demonstrates that the management of pulmonary nodules incidentally detected on CT is still complex and controversial. The majority of SIRM members express a need for an update on this topic.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the President and all the members of the SIRM who participated in this survey.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Immagini e Scienze Radiologiche, IEO, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia IRCCS, Milano, Via Giuseppe Ripamonti 435, 20141, Milan, Italy

    Cristiano Rampinelli

  2. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia oncologica ed Ematologia, Istituto di Radiologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Agostino Gemelli 8, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168, Rome, Italy

    Giuseppe Cicchetti, Roberto Iezzi, Lorenzo Bonomo & Anna Rita Larici

  3. Servizio di Radiologia, Ospedale Maria Vittoria - ASL Città di Torino, Via Cibrario 72, 10143, Turin, Italy

    Giancarlo Cortese

  4. Affidea-IDA Padova, Via Cavazzana 19, 35123, Padua, Italy

    Roberta Polverosi

  5. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia oncologica ed Ematologia, Istituto di Radiologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, Largo Agostino Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy

    Alessandra Farchione

  6. Dipartimento Diagnostica e Immagini, U.O. Radiodiagnostica 2, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana, Via Roma 67, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Chiara Romei

  7. Dipartimento di Radiologia/Diagnostica per Immagini, Istituto di Radiologia, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Viale Camillo Golgi 19, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Adele Valentini

  8. Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) Srl – IRCCS, Via Piero Maroncelli 40, 47014, Meldola, FC, Italy

    Giampaolo Gavelli

  9. Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Ospedale San Giuseppe, IRCCS Multimedica, Via San Vittore 12, 20123, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Zompatori

  10. Unità Operativa Complessa di ‘Scienze Radiologiche’, Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università di Parma - Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Padiglione Barbieri, Via A. Gramsci 14, 43126, Parma, Italy

    Nicola Sverzellati

  11. P.O. Vittorio Emanuele, Radiodiagnostica, Azienda Ospedaliero – Universitaria “Policlinico – Vittorio Emanuele”, Via Plebiscito, 628, 95124, Catania, Italy

    Carmelo Privitera

Authors
  1. Cristiano Rampinelli
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  2. Giuseppe Cicchetti
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  3. Giancarlo Cortese
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  4. Roberta Polverosi
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  5. Alessandra Farchione
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  6. Roberto Iezzi
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  7. Chiara Romei
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  8. Adele Valentini
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  9. Giampaolo Gavelli
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  10. Maurizio Zompatori
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  11. Lorenzo Bonomo
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  12. Nicola Sverzellati
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  13. Carmelo Privitera
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  14. Anna Rita Larici
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristiano Rampinelli.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Questionnaire with the results for each question
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Cite this article

Rampinelli, C., Cicchetti, G., Cortese, G. et al. Management of incidental pulmonary nodule in CT: a survey by the Italian College of Chest Radiology. Radiol med 124, 602–612 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-019-01011-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-019-01011-1

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