Managing Incidental Findings on Thoracic CT: Lung Findings. A White Paper of the ACR Incidental Findings Committee

Reginald F Munden; William C Black; Thomas E Hartman; Heber MacMahon; Jane P Ko; Debra S Dyer; David Naidich; Santiago E Rossi; H Page McAdams; Eric M Goodman; Kathleen Brown; Michael Kent; Brett W Carter; Caroline Chiles; Ann N Leung; Phillip M Boiselle; Ella A Kazerooni; Lincoln L Berland; Pari V Pandharipande

doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2021.04.014

Managing Incidental Findings on Thoracic CT: Lung Findings. A White Paper of the ACR Incidental Findings Committee

J Am Coll Radiol. 2021 Sep;18(9):1267-1279. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2021.04.014. Epub 2021 Jul 8.

Authors

Reginald F Munden¹, William C Black², Thomas E Hartman³, Heber MacMahon⁴, Jane P Ko⁵, Debra S Dyer⁶, David Naidich⁷, Santiago E Rossi⁸, H Page McAdams⁹, Eric M Goodman¹⁰, Kathleen Brown¹¹, Michael Kent¹², Brett W Carter¹³, Caroline Chiles¹⁴, Ann N Leung¹⁵, Phillip M Boiselle¹⁶, Ella A Kazerooni¹⁷, Lincoln L Berland¹⁸, Pari V Pandharipande¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ Professor, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina; Chair, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.
² Professor of Radiology, Emeritus, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, New Hampshire; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
³ Professor of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
⁴ Professor of Radiology, Section of Thoracic Imaging, Department of Radiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
⁵ Professor of Radiology, Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York; Fellowship Director, Cardiothoracic Imaging, Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York.
⁶ Professor, Department of Radiology, National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado; Chair, Department of Radiology, National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado.
⁷ Professor, Emeritus, NYU-Langone Health, New York, New York; Department of Radiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
⁸ Chairman, Centro Rossi, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Chest Section Head, Hospital Cetrángolo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁹ Professor of Radiology, Duke University Health System, Durham, North Carolina.
¹⁰ Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Manhasset, New York; Associate Program Director, Diagnostic Radiology, Department of Radiology, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Manhasset, New York.
¹¹ Professor, Department of Radiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; Section Chief, Thoracic Imaging, Department of Radiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California; Assistant Dean, Equity and Diversity Inclusion, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.
¹² Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Director, Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹³ Associate Professor, Department of Thoracic Imaging, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; Director of Clinical Operations, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; Chief Patient Safety and Quality Officer, Diagnostic Imaging, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
¹⁴ Professor, Department of Radiology, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston Salem, North Carolina.
¹⁵ Professor, Clinical Affairs, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California; Associate Chair, Clinical Affairs, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California; Department of Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California.
¹⁶ Professor, Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, North Haven, Connecticut; Dean, Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, William and Barbara Weldon Dean's Chair of Medicine, North Haven, Connecticut.
¹⁷ Professor of Radiology, Division of Cardiothoracic Radiology and Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
¹⁸ Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
¹⁹ Director, MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Associate Chair, Integrated Imaging & Imaging Sciences, MGH Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Executive Director, Clinical Enterprise Integration, Mass General Brigham (MGB) Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Associate Professor of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

PMID: 34246574
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2021.04.014

Abstract

The ACR Incidental Findings Committee presents recommendations for managing incidentally detected lung findings on thoracic CT. The Chest Subcommittee is composed of thoracic radiologists who endorsed and developed the provided guidance. These recommendations represent a combination of current published evidence and expert opinion and were finalized by informal iterative consensus. The recommendations address commonly encountered incidental findings in the lungs and are not intended to be a comprehensive review of all pulmonary incidental findings. The goal is to improve the quality of care by providing guidance on management of incidentally detected thoracic findings.

Keywords: Incidental; interstitial lung abnormalities; lung cysts; pulmonary nodule.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Consensus
Humans
Incidental Findings*
Lung
Radiologists
Tomography, X-Ray Computed*