[Biopsy/Circulating Tumor Cell questions]

Thanks again Justin for the good wishes, after a year and a half of tests and waiting, I’m looking forward to knowing where I stand with all this. Again I appreciate it! 
LA x
 

Judy M2,

thank you as well for your sharing your diagnosis and how you came about it. 

I have been seeing a Pulmonologist from the start and doing a wait and watch on the nodule with my past few scans. 

in June I had the blood test. The Pulmonologist offered that as a less invasive way to determine if there were malignant cells. He specializes in Bronchoscopies but given the location of my nodule I was not a candidate for that procedure. 
He was surprised to find that my bloodwork was found to be “strongly positive” for Circulating Tumor/Protein cells, which led me to the CT guided Fine needle Biopsy yesterday. 
So I am waiting on those (tissue biopsy)results. Maybe I’m jumping the gun, but the radiologist that assisted the biopsy really has me believing this may be benign and scar tissue. But then my question would be why do I have a large amount of CTC’s?
ugh, sorry if I sound confusing. I guess it’s because I AM confused.

I should just be patient and wait for the pathology report. 
 

thanks again for your response and support. I hope all is going well with you!

best,

Lori Anna

[Biopsy/Circulating Tumor Cell questions]

Hi Justin,

thank you so much for your welcome. I have been following the site and the journey you and others have been on. You have really been through it and are so helpful and supportive to others. You’re all so very strong and special. It’s really a beautiful thing to see. I appreciate your reaching out. 
 Thanks again, 🙂 wishing you good health and a great weekend.

LoriAnna

[Biopsy/Circulating Tumor Cell questions]

Hi. I’ve been following this site and all of you for some time now and really find you to be such a wonderful community of supportive people. I’ve certainly learned a lot from your stories and admire your strength and care for one another.

I am a 58 year old former smoker, active and fit, although I have been dealing with extreme fatigue for a long time now. I am normally a high energy person, so that’s a bit frustrating.

In March 2021, a 13mm nodule was found (CT scan)in my upper right lung, alongside scarring which was found in both lung apices.

A PET followed and only showed minimal uptake in SUV(1.7) there was also a very small punctuate calcified nodule in left lung that was of no concern. I was told that the nodule was most likely the result of scar tissue and fibroblasts and that I also had mild bronchiolectasis. Plan was to follow up with CT scans and watch.

After a couple of CT scans over the past year, nodule remained “persistent” but did not grow. My doctor offered a blood test that finds circulating tumor proteins and gives a risk assessment on suspicion of malignancy. I went from a pretest probability of about 19% malignancy to a strongly positive test now stating almost 80% chance.

That led me to a Needle biopsy, which I just had yesterday. I won’t get the results until next week, but the radiology asst. was pretty certain it was not cancer. He specializes in these biopsies and was pretty confident.

I would like to know if anyone else has had a similar experience or had a “liquid biopsy” along with CT scans to make your diagnosis. If in fact this nodule is benign, does anyone know why I would have(as my Dr. Reported) a strongly positive amount of CTC’s in my blood? He said I was the first patient who had a positive result since he’s been using this test.

Wishing all a happy weekend and good thoughts and wishes.