Good Day Drs.,
My mother (Age:43 yrs, non-smoker,Indian) experienced a Shoulder pain and a Spine MRI was done. Incidentally we found that there is a Pleural Effusion in the left lung. A thoracentesis was done and it reported 'Negative for Malignancy'. In the Chest CT there was a Single lesion in the upper lobe of left lung (3.6 x 3.4 x 3.8cm) with pleural based nodules.
Repeated thoracentesis was done and almost five times it was reported ' No evidence of Malignancy'. Our doctors were confused. The Bronchoscopy of the lesion also revealed 'No evidence of Malignancy'. After two biopsies and one pleural based biopsy all came back as 'Negative for Malignancy'.
During a final FNAC it showed 'Suspicious of Adenocarcinoma'. Our oncologist said it as Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma. He said that the prognosis is 2-3 years with the treatment..
5 cycles of Gemcitabine and Cisplatin has been completed and the fluid stopped building after the 1st cycle. The USG Abdomen was clear.
Does it sound like a Stage 4 Disease??
If yes, is there any hope that we can make her survive long??
Thanks in advance
Reply # - July 26, 2014, 03:33 PM
Reply To: Stage 4 nsclc with Cytolligically negative Pleural
Unfortunately, having a pleural effusion and pleural nodules along with a lung mass sounds like stage IV lung cancer, and I suspect that the negative results were a "false negative" that is not uncommon when removing fluid from the pleural space.
Survival with stage IV lung cancer is typically in the range of many months to a year, while a minority of patients live several years. While survival beyond that range is possible, it's quite unusual.
Good luck.
-Dr. West