saintsfan1
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I recently had an xray show spots "too small to be called nodules" which were confirmed by a follow on CT scan of chest. I've since done PET scan which showed no activity, another CT of chest w/ contrast including scan of abdomen & pelvis, a VATS biopsy in an attempt to biopsy spots, all which showed nothing except that a sputum sample taken from a bronch at VATS surgery came back "suspect". After this 2 month evolution, another xray confirmed there was no changes after 2 months. Another bronch was done this week which came back positive for adeno. I had a LLL back in June 2012 for a tumor which put me at stage 2B adeno (T3N0M0). I've gone from one tumor to these spots and now await appt. w/ onc for a game plan.
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Reply # - September 19, 2014, 03:05 PM
I'm afraid If adneno cancer
I'm afraid If adneno cancer cells were found in the sample then it is positive there is cancer and all but positive it's systemic. If this is the case treatment is most likely not to cure the cancer but for longevity and quality of life. One important factor especially in today's fast moving changes in treatment is to treat only when needed. And since you don't seem to have any tumors causing issues you may want to watch and wait until treatment is called for.
Below are a few blog posts or videos to get you started.
Don't miss the links at the end of the discussions.
One of my fav posts on the subject, http://cancergrace.org/lung/2010/04/16/introduction-to-first-line-thera…
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2013/04/03/reckamp-who-and-which-markers-to…
As Craig from PA puts it, Best Hopes,
and don't hesitate to ask questions when you have them.
Janine
Reply # - September 19, 2014, 04:43 PM
A positive biopsy confirms
A positive biopsy confirms adenocarcinoma, and it sounds like your cancer may be in the range of what is sometimes called bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, or some other indolent adenocarcinoma. It may or may not be amenable to a local therapy (treating a specific area of the lung, like surgery or radiation), or if the process is scattered enough, the recommended treatment may be whole body, systemic treatment. However, if it is a very slow-growing process, it may represent a very minimal threat over years and doesn't necessarily need any treatment immediately.
You can read more about the principles of treating a slow-growing lung cancer here:
http://cancergrace.org/lung/2013/01/20/mf-bac-algorithm/
Good luck.
-Dr. West