2026 IASLC CT Screening and Early Detection Symposium- - Case Reviews and Audience Engagement

Pdf Summary

This case review presented multiple lung screening and diagnostic scenarios to highlight how lung cancer can mimic benign disease and how management decisions vary by imaging appearance, patient risk, and lesion behavior over time.<br /><br />Key lessons from the cases:<br />- Lung cancer may present as solid, subsolid, part-solid, cystic, scar-like, or tree-in-bud lesions, and may be mistaken for infection, fibrosis, organizing pneumonia, or scarring.<br />- Serial CT follow-up, especially with short-interval LDCT, was often used to clarify growth or persistence before biopsy or surgery.<br />- PET-CT was helpful in some cases but could be misleading or falsely reassuring, particularly in inflammatory or certain cystic lesions.<br />- Biopsy and surgical pathology confirmed that lesions initially thought to be indeterminate or benign were sometimes adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.<br />- Some patients had unexpected pathology, including malignancy arising in atypical cysts or lesions with minimal symptoms.<br />- Infections such as aspergillus, candidiasis, and bacterial pneumonia sometimes closely resembled recurrent or progressive cancer.<br />- The panel emphasized the importance of comparing with prior imaging, considering volumetric assessment, and maintaining suspicion even when findings seem subtle.<br /><br />Representative outcomes included:<br />- Early-stage adenocarcinomas discovered after follow-up of small nodules or ground-glass lesions.<br />- Cases where PET-CT led to biopsy, revealing malignancy or infection.<br />- A case of bronchoscopic diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma after recurrent pulmonary infection.<br />- A cystic lesion with increasing wall thickening that ultimately proved malignant.<br />- Several tumors were resected successfully after appropriate imaging workup and tissue diagnosis.<br /><br />Overall take-home points:<br />- Lung cancer presentations are highly variable and can be deceptive.<br />- Radiologists and multidisciplinary teams need a high index of suspicion.<br />- Infection and malignancy may overlap in appearance.<br />- Overly aggressive management should be avoided, but so should delayed diagnosis.

Asset Subtitle

Natthaya Triphuridet

Meta Tag

Concept Pulmonary Nodule

Concept Advanced Lung Cancer

Concept Pulmonary Mass

Concept Benign mimic

Concept Biopsy

Speaker Natthaya Triphuridet

Keywords

lung cancer

CT follow-up

PET-CT

ground-glass nodule

part-solid lesion

cystic lesion

squamous cell carcinoma

adenocarcinoma

infection mimicry

biopsy

Pulmonary Nodule

Advanced Lung Cancer

Pulmonary Mass

Benign mimic

Biopsy

Natthaya Triphuridet