[First time revealed small formations of lungs (under 2 cm in diameter). Dynamic follow-up or surgery?]

To develop the treatment algorithm in patients with first time revealed lung lesions smaller than 2 cm.

The study included 110 patients with pathological lung lesions with small dimensions who have been treated in the Burdenko Clinic of Faculty Surgery for the period 1997-2013. All patients underwent surgical removal of lung tissue using different surgical approaches: 44 cases of videothoracoscopic resections, 43 video-assisted minithoracotomies, 23 minithoracotomies.

There were 25 patients with lung cancer, 38 cases of benign tumours (hamartoma and tuberculoma) and 10 patients with disseminated tuberculosis thar required special treatment.

Small pulmonary formations (from 0.5 to 2 cm) can be removed without morphological verification prior to surgery. Optimal surgical approach should be selected depending on the amount and size of formations. Management of solitary lung formation smaller than 0.5 cm that was newly diagnosed by computed tomography should include dynamic follow-up and performance of computed tomography in 3-6-12 months.