What my primary care doctor said

My primary care wrote to me today.

I doubt he viewed the images.

Is what he is saying true?

It will progress and get worse, right?

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I'm sorry to have left you with excess stress over this finding on the CT scan, but am very glad to let you know that the "paraseptal emphysematous changes" should NOT scare us.

That's actually a pretty darn common finding, and in the vast majority of patients has no clinical significance.

The one scenario in which those changes do come into play clinically, is that they are thought to increase the likelihood of pneumothorax (lung collapes) in younger patients. I do NOT think this increased likelihood really applies to you (not to say you're not young!).

I suppose if you developed sudden severe shortness of breath, it may send us faster to the consideration that we may be dealing with a collapsed lung, but that would be announcing itself anyway. There's nothing we should change about your medications or lifestyle based on that finding.