karendenise
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Posts:2
My father went to surgery in 2010 to remove a tumor of his lower lobe. They did a frozen section on a wedge biopsy of his upper lobe. It came back negative for malignancy. So they close him up and 2 days later they say the results from that biopsy came back positive for BAC. They were going to start him on kemo before they ever even determined if it was non or mucinous. My mother had to ask the oncologist which he had, had his reply was, I don't know. They did not even do an EGFR or KRAS until she said something. Well, after they finally got the results back from that (over a month later) he has Mucinous. And that was it!!! No treatment at all!! And now he is starting to have problems.
Please advise me on what to do at this point.
Forums
Reply # - December 30, 2012, 02:06 PM
Reply To: Mucinous BAC
Karen, please note that the doctors here cannot advise you on what your father should do. They might give suggestions on what they might do, but that's as far as they can go. If he was stage I, then they wouldn't do chemo. Can you be more specific as to what problems he's having? Has he been diagnosed with a recurrence? Wishing you all the best. Take care, Judy
Reply # - December 30, 2012, 02:10 PM
Reply To: Mucinous BAC
My Dad has always been very active. He would exercise every day. But over the last few weeks he has not. He has also been coughing some, from mucus, I think. He just does not feel well. Since he has Mucinous BAC, would they be able to tell of a recurrence on a CT scan? I mean, they came back and told him after surgery that he had BAC, and nothing was done!
Reply # - December 30, 2012, 02:56 PM
Reply To: Mucinous BAC
Hello karendenise, I'm sorry your dad is not feeling well and are worried about a recurrence. CT scan is usually the first source for assessing the situation.
I have linked a blog/post on the subject of mucinous BAC that I hope will help you understand the situation better.
We may not have a doctor get back to you for the next couple of days unless Dr. West is able to access the web from out of town.
After you read the blog/post look at the links at the bottom of the post for more information. We have tons of info available. The search feature is good too though you may need to log off before using it.
Look forward to hearing more from you,
Janine
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/07/09/basics-of-bac/
Reply # - December 30, 2012, 04:22 PM
Reply To: Mucinous BAC
So let me start by saying that in late 2012/early 2013, there is no evidence that BAC should be treated differently than other types of adenocarcinoma. Specifically, the key issue is whether there is a relevant "driver mutation" like an EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement, but that's the same thing we would say about another lung adenocarcinoma.
Right now, the main thing we might conclude about a BAC is that its natural history is quite variable. Specifically, some of the slowest growing lung cancers we see have a BAC histology, but some can be quite aggressive. And there aren't any specific recommendations for managing mucinous or non-mucinous BAC: we tend to sometimes see a more aggressive pattern of progression in mucinous BAC, but there's plenty of variability to that.
Janine is right that I really don't know enough about his specific situation to recommend treatment, and it's actually not legal for me to make medical recommendations for people who aren't my own patient.
There's plenty of information here about more specific issues, and I can try to address more specific questions, but not what someone should do.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - December 31, 2012, 06:25 PM
Reply To: Mucinous BAC
If he was stage I, they wouldnt' do chemo. You've provided very little info so I think we're just guessing. Did he have metastes anywhere else? Has he been followed since his surgery? Unfortunately even with stage 1 cancer, there's always a chance for recurrence, if that's what's happening. Let us know how he makes out. Take care, Judy