Hello my husband has no coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing phlegm etc, and no back/shoulder pain. but had a chest xray b/c of some touch only prompted tenderness of right lower rib. It revealed an " opacity" (diff area than pain) and the doc ordered a CT scan. His grandfather died of lung cancer. His father a survivor of prostate cancer, his sister a survivor of Colon cancer.  he is 40 yrs old and has smoked for 20 years, quitting a month ago. We are very concerned. Outside of pneumonia, are there other non-cancer causes of an opacity? Thank you very much
This could be due to a pleural effusion, it could be due to scar tissue or fibrosis, or it could be due to TB (unlikely but possible).