chitowndeb
Posts:2
Hello,
Thanks to discovering this website, I was able to travel to Seattle and get a second opinion from Dr. West. My initial diagnosis was adenocarcinoma in situ and after our meeting , I chose to monitor the 18mm part solid ground glass nodule. It has been a year and the nodule on the last CT Scan was 18 mm, but completely solid. What does that kind of change in density mean? Is it still prudent to continue monitoring the size of the nodule? I have no symptoms and no signs of metastatic disease.
Thanks,
Deb
Forums
Reply # - October 3, 2016, 05:01 PM
Hi Deb,
Hi Deb,
I'm glad that you feel that GRACE and Dr. West have helped you. As far as the change in the nature of the nodule, I don't think there is any clear-cut answer. The fact that it has become solid does indicate a greater risk of an invasive cancer; the fact that it hasn't grown in a year makes it less likely. Dr. West discusses the imaging features of solitary pulmonary nodules in this post, but your local doctors, with access to all of your information including scan images, are best equipped to judge the risk. But even if it is cancer, it may be so slow-growing that it wouldn't be prudent to biopsy or remove it surgically, and continuing to watch it may be a reasonable choice. Dr. West has an algorithm for treatment of slow-growing cancer (albeit in the example given it's a multifocal BAC) which you can find here.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - October 3, 2016, 05:28 PM
Thanks, Jim.
Thanks, Jim.
I'm going to continue monitoring every 3 months. Keep up the good info!
Deb