Colon Resection while in watchful waiting on Lung Nodules? - 1269506

Hi,

I'm sorry you're in this position. I'll ask a doctor to comment. Hope all goes well.

Janine

To my knowledge, there is no evidence that a colon resection should cause a significant immunosuppressive effect, particularly a prolonged one. There is also no evidence that undiagnosed, small and presumably unchanging or minimally changing lung nodules over time should serve as a contraindication for any otherwise indicated medical intervention, at least if lung infection isn't high on the list of suspected causes.

I would say that there is no factual basis for these speculative comments. While the presence of a known metastatic cancer with a limited life expectancy would be a reason to have a higher threshold for doing a colon resection, that's not the case here. Even if these nodules were proven to be cancer, if they are remaining small and not growing or barely changing over time, I would argue that their presence should have very little impact on management of other medical issues. Specifically, the concept that a colon surgery will lead to significant immunosuppression that will then lead to a significant harmful effect on lung nodules that possibly represent cancer is a very tenuous one, devoid of any good clinical evidence.

Good luck.

-Dr. West