how long does it take to go from stage 1 to stage 2 nscl

nanaof7
nanaof7 Member Posts: 127
edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
I was just wondering how long it takes for tumors to grow when mine was found dr. said I had it a long time what is considered a long time in cancer growth?

Comments

  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    #2
    Doubling rate
    Doubling rates of cells vary. When I was first diagnosed, I looked up the rates on the internet. I knew the doctors in my hometown were anxious to operate on me within a week or two of diagnosis. But the doctors at the university teaching hospital assured me that the kind of cancer I had would not grow to a threatening size even if they waited a month. So I did some research. It turned out that there are some rare kinds of cancer that double every 7 days, but the breast cancer I was first diagnosed with wasn't one of them. In fact, the most aggressive breast cancers at worst had a doubling rate of 27 days. I had a very non-aggressive kind of cancer that had a doubling rate of over 100 days and maybe as slow as 200 plus days. They estimate the doubling rate by looking at the path slides and seeing how many of the cells out of a certain block were about to double. My kind of lung cancer also has a slow doubling rate--over 100 days. That means that if one cell is bad, it takes over 100 days to become two cells. Then it will take over another 100 days to become four cells, and so on. One cell, two cells, four cells, eight cells: these are virtually invisable to today's tests. It takes hundreds of cells to make something that will be big enough to show up on a scan and bigger than that to cause problems. The doctors (and the stuff I read) said that most folks have had breast cancer for over two years before tests are finally able to detect it. My cancer was probably there for years more than that before it was found because it was so slow to double. I decided that I would take my doctor's advice and wait for surgery at the better hospital since my kind of cancer was not going to double and become all that much worse in the month I had to wait.
  • marijune
    marijune Member Posts: 45
    #3
    cabbott said:

    Doubling rate
    Doubling rates of cells vary. When I was first diagnosed, I looked up the rates on the internet. I knew the doctors in my hometown were anxious to operate on me within a week or two of diagnosis. But the doctors at the university teaching hospital assured me that the kind of cancer I had would not grow to a threatening size even if they waited a month. So I did some research. It turned out that there are some rare kinds of cancer that double every 7 days, but the breast cancer I was first diagnosed with wasn't one of them. In fact, the most aggressive breast cancers at worst had a doubling rate of 27 days. I had a very non-aggressive kind of cancer that had a doubling rate of over 100 days and maybe as slow as 200 plus days. They estimate the doubling rate by looking at the path slides and seeing how many of the cells out of a certain block were about to double. My kind of lung cancer also has a slow doubling rate--over 100 days. That means that if one cell is bad, it takes over 100 days to become two cells. Then it will take over another 100 days to become four cells, and so on. One cell, two cells, four cells, eight cells: these are virtually invisable to today's tests. It takes hundreds of cells to make something that will be big enough to show up on a scan and bigger than that to cause problems. The doctors (and the stuff I read) said that most folks have had breast cancer for over two years before tests are finally able to detect it. My cancer was probably there for years more than that before it was found because it was so slow to double. I decided that I would take my doctor's advice and wait for surgery at the better hospital since my kind of cancer was not going to double and become all that much worse in the month I had to wait.

    doubling rate
    cabbott, your article was very interesting. I have often wondered how long it took different cancers to grow. I dont quite understand but does the article suggest it could take 5 to 10 years before it can be seen on a scan? Please let me know what wetsite I can read more about this

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