Introduction to current challenges in thoracic surgery special series: how to evaluate, diagnose and treat small lung nodules

With increased imaging of the chest being done for a variety of non-lung cancer reasons and possible changes in epidemiology, there are an increasing number of solitary pulmonary nodules identified. These can cause consternation to the individual and their families. It is necessary for clinicians to understand the current workup and treatment of these lesions. With this special series, we aim to do the following for small lung nodules: review current methodology for diagnosis, biopsy techniques, treatment options, and look into the future of how best to handle these going forward. We are confident that this special series will be important for all practitioners who are faced with small lung nodules.

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Current Challenges in Thoracic Surgery for the series “How to Evaluate, Diagnose and Treat Small Lung Nodules”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflict of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://ccts.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/ccts-21-32/coif). The series “How to Evaluate, Diagnose and Treat Small Lung Nodules” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. DPD and SJS served as the unpaid Guest Editors of the series. SJS’s current grants are related to creation of a video library of thoracic surgery, use of immunotherapy in early stage non-small cell lung cancer, and comparing effectiveness of limited resection vs. stereotactic body radiation therapy for early stage non-small cell lung cancer. SJS is a consultant for Ethicon and Covidien. SJS has a variety of senior leadership positions at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Additionally, he serves as Program Director for the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons Post-Graduate Course in General Thoracic Surgery and as a member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Lung Cancer Surgery Task Force. SJS has been sponsored to lecture at the 2019 Think Tank on Gastroesophageal Cancer (TargetCancer Foundation), 2019 American Association of Thoracic Surgery: International Thoracic Surgical Oncology Summit (Ethicon), various American Association of Thoracic Surgery meetings, multiple Medical Oncoclinicas Cancer Symposiums at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the 2nd International Conference on Sublobar Resection for Lung Cancer in 2019. Both authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

Daniel P. Dolan

Scott J. Swanson