Worried about Pancoast Tumor

Hi Shoegal,

Welcome to Grace.  I'm sorry you're having so much pain.  This is strictly a nonprofessional point of view; If I've learned anything about little-understood neuropathic pain is that little is understood about how to treat people or even understand what patients are trying to convey. 

Since it sounds like you've read at least some of what members have had to say about pancoast tumor scares I'm not going to repeat it.  They are very rare and the symptoms can sound like one of the most problematic musculoskeletal areas of the human body.  

I'm going to talk about my experience with my husband.  He was a cabinet maker and started to have pain in his shoulder when it continued to get worse he went to the doc who did an xray that didn't show anything then an MRI that showed some ortho problems in the shoulder.  He was prescribed physical therapy after 5 weeks it only got worse.  It wasn't until he had a CT that the pancoast tumor was picked up.  There was a consensus among the several docs I asked about why it wasn't picked up by the xray or mri the answers were, the xray doesn't have high enough resolution to pick up all tumors and bone could have hidden the tumor.  An MRI takes images of smaller spots, bone could have hidden it or it was pointing in the wrong direction.  They weren't looking for a pancoast tumor.  For lung cancer a CT is the gold standard for looking at the lungs, other types of scans can miss a tumor especially if you don't know what you're looking for.   

I understand that his docs were looking for the most probable problems first.  You catch the largest amount of issues that way.  But then you have to continue to look for answers which is where the CT came in. 

I'd ask a radiologist about your CT results. 

I hope you can find relief soon,

Janine

This isn't my opinion but a CT scan picks up pancoast tumors that have caused pain for 2 years.  You said there was a problem with the scan so that could cause issues with reading it.  If you haven't yet, You could check with a radiologist about how readable the scans are.  But then yes if it's in good focus and they can read it, it would pick it up. 

And yes a person with a pancoast tumor that's caused pain for 4 years would almost surely be dead without treatment. 

What I've learned over and over is that nerve pain is a tricky little bugger to treat. 

 I hope you find ways to mitigate your pain.  Best of luck.

Janine

Pain on both sides isn't a symptom one would associate with a pancoast tumor. 

I too have pain that moves down both sides.  Following the anatomy, pain symmetrical along both sides of the body suggests a problem on the spine.  It just doesn't sound plausible that you could have a pancoast tumor that has invaded the spine without devastating effects at best. 

Keep moving Shoegal,

Janine

Eu tenho a maxima suspeita que tenho um tumor de pancoast.ja sofro a um ano e meio,dor no hemitórax,ombro,braço,mão dedos ulnar 4 e 5,dor na escapula,no plexo braquial nas raizes de c8 t1,invasão da cervical,paresias nos dedos manchas no corpo,e sintomas da sīndrome de horner,tudo parece tumor pancoast,dor no pescoço,dor de cabeça,perda de força no braço.fiz tomografia de tórax e deu normal,mas tudo fala na síndrome de pancoast.vou morrer sem diagnóstico correcto.me ajudem por favor.o tumor pancoast causa muitos sintomas como a sindrome do desfiladeiro torácico,cervicalgia,braquialgia,radiculopatia,costela cervical.dor forte sö no lado esquerdo.

I'm sorry but I can't read this.