mets to lungs

kdo29

my mom has 1 spot on each lung (both less than 1cm) on each lobe.she had RFA for a spot on her liver and did fine.we are going to talk to her oncologists this week...can anyone give me any good questions to ask about how the will treat this.Anyone experiencing this or have in the past.please let me know..

John23

Questions...


You can ask how he's sure it's metastatic, and not a "second cancer",
or simply calcifications.

I have had calcifications for umpteen thousand years on both lungs,
and from what I hear, it's pretty common.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions, and neither should an oncologist.

No treatment is needed if it's not malignant.

Ask questions and get answers in writing if possible, then get
a second opinion. You are entitled to at least that much before
any "treatment" is begun.

Better health!

John

tootsie1

Sorry
I'm sorry to hear the news. Hope your mom gets some good information from the oncologist!

*hugs*
Gail

Wenchie

Mets to lungs
Hey Kdo29,
I too have mets to the lungs. I had a lung biopsy (not a big deal) to confirm it was metastatic colon cancer. Since then, I have been on chemo every two weeks and the mets are stable. There are too many to operate on so they're just trying to keep them stable. The biggest side effect I have is exhaustion from the chemo. I had Folfox and radiation for one year, one year off and I thought I was ok, mets to lungs and back on chemo consisting of Folfiri and Avastin, had to drop Camptosar due to nausea and now I'm just on 5-FU and Avastin with CTScans every two months.

dorookie

I had mets to right lung
After a biopsy to confirm it was colon and not another cancer, I had surgery to remove it, rough surgery but thankfully I had a great surgeon and she got it all out with great margins, had 8 months of followup chemo and have been NED for over a year now.

Good Luck and God Bless
Beth

PhillieG

Let's Go (away) Mets
Sorry about corny pun, it's baseball season though.

You obviously want to find out as much as you can before it's treated. One thing with biopsies is that they do have to make sure they sample it correctly or you can get a false reading. The RFA or chemo have helped in treating my spots.

I've been dealing with lung mets for many years. They were metastasized from my initial colon caner. I have never had a biopsy on them at all. How mine have been dealt with has been by stopping Erbitux and CPT11 treatments for 2 months then see if they grow. If they grow, then they are not just scars or other benign spots. When I had clusters of spots, they were removed by wedge resections. When it's been 1 0r 2 spots, they've removed them using RFA. I will be having an RFA done sometime in August to remove the spot. I had it done in 07 and I only had to stay one night, I also had it done in 09 and didn't even have to stay over at all.

Best of luck to your Mom.
-phil

taraHK

some questions
Hi. So sorry to hear about the lung spots.

I had a solitary small lung met three different times. Each time removed by surgery, followed by "mop up" chemo (that is, chemo designed to wipe out any possible remaining micrometastases).

So, some questions I might be asking would be:
1. (as already suggested) - are they planning biopsy to determine whether malignant or benign (has she already had PET scan? Was that conclusive?)
2. Would they be considering surgery or chemo or radiation (eg RFA) to treat?
3. If surgery, is minimally invasive surgery an option (called VATS - it's like laparoscopy [sp?]). Wedge resection vs. lobectomy. In general, they will probably plan to do the least invasive thing, but want to get clear margins. The surgical plan also depends on where in the lung the spot is....
4. If having surgery (or radiation), are they planning on follow-up chemo. It's a bit controversial -- I know very good centres/doctors/patients who have chosen both options....

Good luck to your mom and you all.
Tara

Unknown

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lesvanb

unknown said:

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Thank you for all that info Kathy
helping to confirm my decision (and my oncologists are fine with it too) to wait and see at next PET/CT in Sept for what's up with lung nodule 9mm with minimal uptake and a dropping CEA with the only biopsy option via VATS surgery.

all the best, Leslie