Introduction: The entities of non-solid and part-solid pulmonary nodules on CT scan have been recently described.
State of art: Nonsolid and part-solid pulmonary nodules account for between 2.9 and 19% of all pulmonary nodules detected in high-risk patients included in CT screening series for lung cancer. Radio-pathological correlations have shown that the aetiology could be either benign (chronic pneumonia, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, localized fibrosis) or malignant (broncholoalveolar cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, more rarely metastasis). Part-solid or non-solid nodules are more likely to be malignant than solid ones. The doubling time of non-solid nodules can be longer than part-solid ones and even longer than the doubling time of solid nodules. Patient prognosis is related to the proportion of the ground glass component.
Perspective: The management of these nodules requires prolonged surveillance of nodules less than 10mm in diameter and surgical excision of nodules greater than 10mm persisting on scans between 1 to 3 months after they have been discovered and anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious therapy has been administered.
Conclusions: Nonsolid and part-solid pulmonary nodules found on CT scan warrant a specific diagnostic workup.