Hello,
This Bonaya again with another question. To recap my condition, I have been diagnosed with multi-focal adenocarcinoma of the lung. I had two 1cm tumors removed surgically two weeks ago. And they were described as well differentiated and moderately differentiated tumors. The lymph nodes and the margin areas are said to be clean. I understand that the two removed tumors are slow growing cancers, relatively speaking. I have eight more 3-5mm size ground glass nodules spread in both lungs.
My question is, is it possible that a lung cancer like mine may have spread to other organs but may be undetected by PET study before surgery and tissue analysis after the surgery? Hopefully this will be my last question at least for a while.
Bonaya
Reply # - September 14, 2014, 10:17 PM
Sorry for the delay. You
Sorry for the delay. You placed your question in the wrong place, which made it hard to notice. In the future, please click on the ASK US button to start a new thread, rather than adding a comment in an unrelated thread.
It's always possible that a cancer could have spread but remains below the limita of detection of an imaging study. That's why cancers recur after surgery for what appears to be early stage disease based on imaging and pathology results.
However, for a cancer that has the appearance you described, I would say that, if progression/recurrence were likely to happen at all over time, it is exceptionally more likely thatt it would be detected in the lungs, especially with several already identified ground glass nodules in the lungs.
Good luck.
-Dr. West