I just had an angio pulmonary cat scan with contrast to rule out a pulmonary embolism. can that detect lung cancer? chest xray normal. 42 years old.

Yes: This type of Chest scan is primarily focused on the pulmonary artery and vasculature which is why you received the contrast. However, it is still a Chest CT and it takes a good look and the lung tissue too. It would see your lung tumor if it were there.

Yes: A CTA will be able to detect abnormal lung masses with fairly decent accuracy. The test of choice would be a CT without contrast, however most radiologists can read through the added contrast material.

Depends on size: Many patients who undergo a ct scan of the chest will have small or medium size nodules that are non-specific. A radiologist will document the size, and depending on the patients age and risk factors for developing lung cancer will recommend appropriate followup studies or sometimes even recommend a biopsy. We can suspect, but not diagnose lung cancer without a tissue diagnosis.

Yes,: that type of CT can detect lung cancer. Tiny nodules 2mm or less can potentially be detected. There are benign causes for nodules as well, so although CT is good at finding nodules, and possibly assigning a reasonable probability of malignancy based on certain imaging features, CT cannot make a definitive diagnosis of cancer.