Resource use and guideline concordance in evaluation of pulmonary nodules for cancer: too much and too little care.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Pulmonary nodules are common, and more will be found with implementation of lung cancer screening. How potentially malignant pulmonary nodules are evaluated may affect patient outcomes, health care costs, and effectiveness of lung cancer screening programs. Guidelines for evaluating pulmonary nodules for cancer exist, but little is known about how nodules are evaluated in the usual care setting.

Objective

To characterize nodule evaluation and concordance with guidelines.

Design, setting, and participants

A retrospective cohort study was conducted including detailed review of medical records from pulmonary nodule detection through evaluation completion, cancer diagnosis, or study end (December 31, 2012). The participants included 300 adults with pulmonary no

SUBMITTER: Wiener RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4266552 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature