Lung Thingy

[Sonofafighter]

So just got back Dads latest CT scan last night.

All good in the abdomen, no findings. In the lungs the nodules seen in a scan in Oct 19 still there, biggest one 6mm, no change. Other ones (no # given but termed tiny) “minimally” increased. Overall impression “stable disease”.

The same nodules were put in a PETCT in Nov 19 and there was no uptake anywhere. The nodules were only ever seen just before his LAR surgery in Dec 2018, that is his baseline in the treating hospital.again since then there has been “ minimal change” on size and number.

During diagnosis (June 18) he had a lung Ct that was clear, but on a machine different to his treating hospital, likely an older model with lower resolution (done in Pakistan)

He has never been officially staged at stage 4.i think he is T3n1m0. Will check again the hospital records

Some details: Last chemo was in June 2019, folfox. Weight is up since then, last 3 to 4 cea results have trended downwards . Overall he feels he is healthy but has not been excercising as he should so he “feels his age at times “

Will meet with Onc in the next few weeks, Not sure how to read this report, very mixed feelings, I feel it’s good that it’s stable, but minimal increase concerns me.

I want to ask doc about cyber knife options for the one big one (my thinking better gone than in) but other than that no other questions come to mind , can you please help me with your experience On what are the key questions to ask ?

[mrcytech]

Hi sonofafighter,

In my experience, it sounds like your father's doctor is following protocol. Stable is a GOOD thing when it comes to cancer, and minimal could mean .1-1mm growth. Alot of times an oncologist will wait about 3 months or so (after last CT) to do another scan for surveillance. If there's more growth, they may suggest an EBUS (endobronchial Ultrasound) or a bronchoscopy to determine whether or not it's cancer, what type (biopsies), and whether or not there's any endobronchial activity.

For now, it sounds like your father is doing well, and has a great support system (very essential). If you are still nervous about that CT, don't hesitate to ask the oncologist about the above mentioned procedures.

Hope this helps some.

[4us4]

In my case, I've had three CTs showing growth in my lung nodules, but they are waiting to biopsy until one reaches 10mm. That does not feel quite right to me, but that seems to be the consensus among my doctors.

[ChiMama]

When I had my first scan at diagnosis in April 2016, there was a small 8/9mm nodule that my doctors put on a watch list. Over the years there was a little variance of 1mm more or less as measured but it was typically called "a stable nodule." This April it appeared to be 1.1cm so it was decided to biopsy at that point. A needle biopsy was done.

[Sonofafighter]

Thank you everyone for the replies. Things a bit crazy at home so didn't get a chance to log on earlier.

Two oncologists (Same hospital, Primary + another Onc friend my dad made during his time admitted last year) looked at the scans again and said no action necessary at this point, it all seems stable. I wish it were a more conclusive answer but thats where we are. Taking it in its stride.

I am considering taking the scans as a copy out of the hospital and sending to a second facility for an opinion, might reinforce that the doctors are doing the right thing. Anyone tried something similar before ?

Also asked the oncologist to have this discussed in the tumor board - not sure how those things work, but I recall the first time the nodule showed up on the scan, the Colorectal surgeon made sure it was brought up and the consensus was to do a PET scan (which showed NED)