Justin Aunger is leading research on improving follow-up of pulmonary nodules, which are potentially pre-cancerous lesions in the lungs. This includes developing a natural language processing algorithm to identify patients with pulmonary nodules from CT scan reports, a systematic review of interventions which is now published in CHEST, and he is working with University Hospitals Birmingham to understand their experiences with the pulmonary nodule care pathway.
What is the problem?
When people have a CT scan sometimes the scan shows small potentially pre cancerous lumps in the lungs which are called pulmonary nodules It is important to follow up pulmonary nodules because they can be early indicators for lung cancer If lung cancer is detected early this can lead to better outcomes for patients. However in the UK there is variation in the ways pulmonary nodules are investigated This can lead to cancers being identified at a later less treatable stage
What we will do
Our project has three stages:
1. We will understand how patients with pulmonary nodules are followed up at University Hospitals Birmingham We will develop a computer tool that will identify these patients based on their clinical records
2. We will bring together existing evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve follow up of patients with pulmonary nodules
3. We will conduct a national survey and interview patients and staff at University Hospitals Birmingham to understand how care pathways for pulmonary nodules can be improved
Our intention is for these three studies to inform the development of a Clinical Decision Support Tool or enhanced tracking system to improve follow up of pulmonary nodules. Our learnings in this project can be used to help improve the ways findings from tests and investigations that are not the main purpose for the test investigation called incidental findings are followed up.