john
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Posts posted by john
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I agree with Connie.
The lastest research does seem to indicate that often chemo should be used even in some early stage cancers.
There are times when it should not be used though such as with a typical carcinoid and other slow growing cancers which don't respond much to chemo.
The SUV going down is probably a really good sign
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Certain chemos are worse than others. I think Cisplatin is one of the worst on the kidneys.
Carboplatin is a platinum based chemo like cisplatin so that i guess is causing your renal toxcity.
I read that hydration is important and sometimes lasix is used to increase urine output.
I have read dialysis is only used in severe cases.
Maybe another chemo will be tried that is less toxic to the kidneys?
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You can find clinical trials at
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3 mm is tiny. So if it is anything it is hopefully caught early
it is mm not cm right?
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That is good it was found so early. The web says Kulchitsky cells originate from neuroendocrine cells.
Neuroendocrine lung cancers exhibit a large range of aggressiveness.
SCLC, large cell carcinoma, atypical carcinoid, and carcinoid are all neuroendocrine lung cancers.
Since your doctor recommended chemo, your type is most likely SCLC or large cell. Carcinoids are not supposed to repond well to chemo since they are slow growing.
Since it is caught so early that is good and very unusual. I guess the chemo choice is GemCarbo versus VP16/Cisplatin since the side effects are less? Something you could ask your Dr if you want
I am not Dr.
If you have any concerns get a 2nd opinion or ask your current Dr.
Take care
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Great news. I was wondering when I saw your bio change from
"nodule is 1.4cm" to nodule is still the same size
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I think it is a good idea. Unfortunately lung cancer is such a deadly disease that the ones left are the ones who can provide information, support, advocacy, etc. The parents, aunts, uncles, brothers/sisters are needed to keep this site active and full of knowledge and experience.
And more unfortunate is that there will be other's who lose spouses, children, brothers, sisters, etc.
Support is instinsically part of this site. A special one for spouses and others could be put under the current Grieving Forum.
By supporting those left behind it can only strengthen this site. There is bandwidth for jokes, etc and non-deep threads (Which are needed), why not
a few threads for special grieving situations?
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I think the doubling time for your nodule is about 40 days, which is pretty fast.
This would indicate that it is an infection or something else, probably not cancer. Also your Dr said it wasnt cancer.
The reason I think this, is that if the doubling time is that fast then it should show on the PET scan because the metabolic rate (I believe) would be high.
A PET scan wont always show slow growing cancers, but again since the doubling time is fast your nodule would not be a slow growing cancer and should show on a PET.
Since a PET scan measures metabollic activity, it may not be as effective for identifying tumors that have a low metabollic rate, such as carcinoid tumors, mucinous cancers (e.g., ovarian cancer), and low grade tumors (e.g., bronchioaveolar cell carcinoma fo the lung). PET scans are particularly useful in imaging the lungs and in measuring response to treatment for cancers that exhibit high FDG uptake.
I am not a Dr, but this is what I would guess.
A 2nd opinion is always in order if you feel uncomfortable. I imagine once the C word is mentioned it is hard to shake.
There are other characteristics of the nodule that are shown on the CT scan: calcification/non-calcification, density, spiculation that help with determining wheather a SPN (single pulmonary nodule) is benign
Good luck.
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As KatieB said have you looked into clinical trials.
There is a drug called hki-272 being tried on patients who develop a resistence to Tarceva or Iressa.
You also might be aware that a gene was discovered that shows why some people respond and I think they have identified a gene that shows why resistence develops. Maybe there are other experimental drugs to research?
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As KatieB said have you looked into clinical trials.
There is a drug called hki-272 being tried on patients who develop a resistence to Tarceva or Iressa.
You also might be aware that a gene was discovered that shows why some people respond and I think they have identified a gene that shows why resistence develops. Maybe there are other experimental drugs to research?
http://www.lungcancerissues.com/ms/news ... /main.html
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Joannie,
There is pretty good evidence that radon causes lung cancer based on way too many uranium miners getting lung cancer and based on studies of homes with high radon levels.
I think based on this and ruling out other things it was a highly likely cause. But as people have said on here I think it is almost impossible to know 100% unless you could run unethical experiments on prisoners.
Expose half to randon at differnt levels, don't expose the other half and control as many variables as possible and then get accurate family histories, genetic analysis, etc
Even then there maybe a very small chance it is something else or a combination of things. Do 100% of people get LC after a high enough exposure? Of the 1/2% that does not get LC why are they different
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I would get a 2nd opinion. Of course the Mayo Clinic has a great reputation. I believe there are people on this board that have had good expereiences with Cancer centers of america.
Sometimes with blood clots a stent is used *I think*
It seems like what your mom has in some sense is Superior vena cava syndrome. Maybe not exactly but close. I am not a Dr.
When there is compression around the Vena cava it can cause swelling in the face.
Again I am not a Dr, but I have read that this is done.
Good luck with the 2nd opinion. I wonder if there are people on this board in your area who could provide referrals to doctor they like that might be closer than 4 hours?
I have read the lovenox is supposed to be better than coumadin, so that is good she is using that vs coumadin.
I *believe* it is quite wrong and UNETHICAL to say that her treatments would stop if she seeks a 2nd opinion. Yes treatment may be changed by the other doctor and *maybe* there would be a short period of no treatment, but it might be better treatment for you mom?
That signals to me that you are not dealing with a good doctor. A good doctor would welcome 2nd opinions and not feel uncomfortable by a 2nd opinion request. You might want to call the AMA and ask about this? Is this actually done?
Stopping someones treatment because you want a 2nd opinion. I think it is outrageous
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Thanks for the article.
I wonder why it does not mention that Tarceva seems to work better in non-smokers and especially women.
Nor no mention of the gene that seems to identify which people the drug would work best on.
I wonder if Dana Reeves was ever offered Tarceva at Sloan?
just wondering
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keep up the good reports
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Did anyone notice the mistake by the "Health Expert". Robert Bazell is a phi beta kappa from UNC but apparently lung cancer is not worth his time to do any research
I bet at least half the people on here could find the mistake in the following:
There’s the whole argument whether the fast CT scan should be given to people—especially if they’re at risk because they were smokers or maybe there is lung cancer in the family—and whether that’s going to save lives. There’s a huge study under way to determine that. [A CT scan, also called a spiral or helical CT scan, is a special X-ray that detects lung abnormalities and tumors at a very early stage. Some doctors argue that "false positives" from the test can lead to unnecessary biopsies and potentially risky surgeries.]
It's the argument you have with any cancer test — you find a lot of stuff and you cut it out, but does it really make any difference in the death rate?
The mistake is that he says a CT scan is a helical or spiral scan.
Actually they are different. A CT scan is what most people get. A helical or spiral scan is being tested for early detection.
A Helical or spiral CT scan can detect nodules MUCH smaller than a normal CT scan.
It is a little nit-picky, but a Science editor should be more accurate
Also did you notice how he mentioned non-smoking women and then immediately started taking about smoking? No mention of research being done on Estrogen and lung cancer.
It is nice to increase awareness but at least I would hope there would be 0 mistakes!
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The SUV is the uptake number. I am guessing that as the numbers goe up the spots will become brighter. As they go down they will be darker. Just a guess.
You probably know this but the SUV only applies to the PET
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That is great news. Sometimes when someone is down staged like that they might be able to have surgery.
You might want to ask your Drs about this
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I think if it is spiculated it is more likely malignant, but as connie said there are always exceptions.
Radiographic risk factors
The appearance of the edge of a solitary pulmonary nodule on a radiograph correlates strongly with the probability of cancer. Smooth-edged nodules are more likely benign; ragged-edged ones are more often malignant. Only 20% of nodules with smooth, sharp, and circular margins are malignant (2). About 33% of solitary pulmonary nodules with smooth but lobulated margins are malignant, as are 83% of those with edges having one or more spiculations. Finally, up to 93% of nodules that have edges with multiple spiculations or corona radiata are malignant (2). However, spiculated edges are not diagnostic of malignancy and can be seen in benign inflammatory nodules, especially if found in the location of a previous pneumonia on imaging studies.
http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/ ... llivan.htm
[/b]
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ginnyde is right ray had surgery. In certain cases surgery can be done for mets
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I think it is *pretty* fast. When the surgeon described the surgery to us. He said a pathologist is nearby and called in once the samples are ready. They know fairly soon, because based on what lymph nodes have or do not have cancer they either remove the lobe or don't proceed and close everything up
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Both Karen's have made good points. I am not a Dr
Tarceva is being tested on Glioma (brain cancer) so it must cross the blood-brain barrier.
Sometimes WBR is used on one brain met in addition to SRS or other targeted treatments. The problem is that one met is detected but others *might* exist so WBR is given also
There are some clinical trials using melatonin for brain mets. You *might* want to ask the Dr about this since melatonin I would guess would have little side effects. I doubt that melatonin is being used
for LC brain mets w/o radation. I am not sure what "RPA Class II patients" as mentioned in the trial below
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I think most medications have some sort of adverse risks but they are usually fairly rare.
Tarceva may cause liver problems according to this:
http://www.tarceva.com/tarceva/professi ... safety.jsp
Other problem it can cause is Interstitial Lung Disease.
One thing to be aware of certain foods may cause an increase in the level of Tarceva in the body.
Fay A wrote about this awhile ago. one food to avoid is grapefruit and some other things like St John's Wort. So you might want to ask your Dr. I think the enzyme was CYP3A
Dad just diagnosed with lung cancer
in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!
Posted
After the chemo and radiation it might be possible to have surgery. I would ask the oncologist and radiation onc about this because if there is too much radiation or chemo surgery will not be possible.
Even if it is close to the heart, there *might* be a surgeon that could do surgery. You will just have to ask enough Drs to find one capable of doing the resection.
Make sure you find the best doctors available.