kimblanchard Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 I was diagnosised a little over 2 years ago with Stage IV BAC. All along my doctor has relied on Chest Ct scans to measure progression or regression. Currently, there are two small spots in my right lung that we are monitoring. On Tuesday, I am going to have a chest xray done instead of a chest CT. When I questioned them about this change, they said since they know where the spots are the Chest Xray would be good. I have had a eventful month with an allergic reaction to a chemo drug which caused inflammation in my lung which we are still trying to determine if it is permanet (sp?). At the same time, there was some small growth in the tumors so we needed to change the chemo. The chemo (we think - test results still pending) caused my blood counts to drop so low that I need 2 pints of blood. I know that the ct gives a dimensional picutre whereas the chest xray gives a flat picture. Can you evaluate the disease with a chest xray (we do have a recent for comparison) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 7, 2004 Author Share Posted December 7, 2004 A chest CT is gives 2 dimensional views of the lungs in much greater detail. A chest xray is basically a 1 dimensional "shadow" of your chest and does not show nearly as much detail. If you are only concerned about seeing major changes then a chest xray is fine. If you need to see fine detail and anatomic structures, you need a CT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 8, 2004 Author Share Posted December 8, 2004 Joe, Thanks for the response Maureen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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