I have seen this question before, but since everyone is different, I thought I would ask about my situation.
I was diagnosed stage iv mucinous adenocarcinoma in June 2015, well differentiated, no mutations found so far.
I have multiple nodules/legions in both lungs ranging from tiny to 9cm at their largest. I was on carbo/alimta/Avastin and now am on alimta/Avastin only. Each ct scan shows shrinkage. I still have many nodules thought both lungs but the largest ones have shrunk maybe 25-50%ish
I have read many stories of people with BAC and am wondering if I may have it to. If I do, I'm not sure how that would affect treatment decisions in the future, but it may give me more hope than what I have now!
I have never had a PET scan. Only CTs and brain MrI. From those scans they have not shown metastasis anywhere else besides the lungs. How is BAC diagnosed? Pathology reports?
Thank you
Jackie
Reply # - February 2, 2016, 12:02 PM
Hi Jackie, Welcome to the
Hi Jackie, Welcome to the Grace forums. I'm sorry about your diagnosis and hope we can be of help.
mucinous adenocarcinoma of the lung is also known as mucinous BAC so yes your doctors did diagnose you with BAC. Some of the main points about BAC is they can be very indolent/slow growing and the can also be aggressive/fast growing. So the treatment depends very much on how indolent of aggressive it is. That can be found out by breaking from treatment and keeping a close eye on symptoms and getting scheduled scans. Mucinous BAC also tends to create a lot of mucus unfortunately it isn't well understood how to care for this symptom. It's treated like other forms of adeno nsclc with tests for mutations if tissue is available.
Dr. West has posted 4 new short videos on the subject that cover a lot of territory. After listening to them or reading the transcripts and still have questions don't hesitate to ask.
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2015/05/29/gcvl_lu-aa01_bronchioloalveolar_…
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2015/06/01/gcvl_lu-aa02_bac_myths_misconcep…
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2015/09/14/gcvl_lu-f03_indolent_lung_cancer…
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2015/10/02/gcvl_lu-f08_optimal_systemic_bac…
Another thought is if you feel the need for a 2nd opinion then that's never a bad idea and this will be of help, http://cancergrace.org/cancer-101/2011/11/13/an-insider%E2%80%99s-guide…
Hopes for the best,
Janine