Clinicopathological characteristics of pulmonary nodules: Experience at Clínica Reina Sofía, Bogotá, Colombia

Abstract

Introduction. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, which makes it a public health problem. There are different imaging findings that suggest the presence of lung cancer, one of which is pulmonary nodules; however, these can also be seen in benign entities. Methods. A total of 66 patients with pulmonary nodule biopsy at Clínica Reina Sofía, in the city of Bogotá D.C. were included between March 1, 2017 and February 28, 2020. The demographic characteristics of the patients, the morphologic and histopathologic characteristics of the pulmonary nodules and their correlation with their pathological diagnosis were analyzed. Results. 69.2% of the nodules studied had malignant etiology, of these 55.5% were of metastatic origin, and 44.5% were primary lung neoplasms, with a solid pattern in 70.6% of the cases. The most frequent histological pattern was adenocarcinoma. Regarding the radiological characteristics, most of the malignant nodules measure 1 to 2 cm, of smooth morphology and had multiple distribution, located in the upper lobes. Conclusions. The characterization of pulmonary nodules provides relevant information that guides the most frequent diagnoses in our setting, when suspicious nodules found incidentally or in the follow-up of another tumor are studied. As the nodule is the manifestation of early lung cancer, establishing screening programs that allow timely diagnosis is an urgent need to reduce mortality.