Stupid Question

[Z_Pacific]

Greetings from Guam,

As a result of some of my postings several of you have asked me specifically what type of cancer I have. I scratched my baldhead and looked over the reports that the docs have given me here and found nothing that described just what type of cancer they diagnosed. What they have told me is that I have a nodule (tumor) in my right lung that has spread causing a 10cm tumor on my right adrenal gland and a 4cm tumor on the right. They got this from several CT scans. As of the last scan the tumor in the lung has grown but there is no evidence of additional tumors in either lung.

Yesterday I went to see my primary doc - she called the radiologist that did the biopsy and ordered the pathology report of the 10cm tumor. The pathologist called the cancer “nonspecific” and went on to add that they could only get an exact definition from the tumor in the lung. They did not want to do a biopsy on this tumor because the lung is in bad shape from smoking and they were afraid that the lung could collapse if they tried.

My question is, why can’t they tell what kind of cancer I have from the biopsy taken from the secondary tumor?

[Don Wood]

Perhaps they did not have enough tissue to determine the exact lung cancer. The first biopsy sample on my wife was taken from her spine, since they considered that the primary tumor. Because it was touchy area, they could only get enough tissue to determine it was a carcinoma, but not where it came from. They had to do a second biopsy on a tumor in her leg bone to get enough tissue to determine it was non-small cell lung cancer. Hope this helps. Don

[Debaroo]

My dads orig. biopsy was also of a tumor on the spine (first one they found), at first it was determined that he had SCLC=but after Daddy received chemo for 10 months, and scans showing that there were virtually no changes in the tumors, yet it wasn't 'spreading like wildfire' (SCLC tends to respond to chemo very well, and if it happens to be the rare for that dosn't respond, it spreads very fast).

Anyway, the doctor ordered another biopsy, this time of the lung, since the spine is very hard to get a really good tissue sample from, and that biopsy proved that it could be, and probably was, NSCLC. This allowed my dad to get into the IRESSA trial.

Anyway, long story short, Don is probably right, they didn't get a good enough tissue sample to best determine the exact type of cancer you have. Did your doctors mention that, in time, they would attempt a biopsy of the lung? How did they determine treatment? Take care, and hope that this was of help. deb

[Donna G]

The same thing happened to me. I remember well the day that they did a needle biopsy under CT on my tumor. Being that it was way up in the apex of my lung, they would not go through the front chest wall, ( too many blood vessels, nerves etc) they went through the back but as you all know not only do we have ribs in the back but also scapulas. They would move the needle , run out , run back in, move the needle etc. They told me they felt for sure it was NSCLC but was not good enough sample to give me any more. Next I had Chemo and radiation, then finally surgery. After surgery I asked what kind of cells they found in the tumor and they said " only scar tissue" so who knows. It is gone and that is all that counts. Donna G

[stoydc]

Howard,

My dad has a cough, and they were able to dx his type of cancer from a sputum specimen. He also had a bronch, and they did bronchial washings that also confirmed adenocarcinoma. Lastly, they did a needle bx under CT to see if the spots on the right lung were cancer, and they also confirmed adenocarcinoma. A second opinion MD made the dx of BAC (bronchioalveolar carcinoma) by the appearance and location of the tumors on the CT and x rays. That's why they recommended IRESSA as a first line of tx. They said the only definative way to confirm BAC was to do an actual bx and get part of the tumor and also some of the surrounding tissue (which is way too risky). Since you remain in such good health, I would say you have an extremely slow growing tumor. The last MD we spoke with also thought my dad's cancer was slow growing and said he could have had it for years. We have seen 4 different oncologists in this past month and each of them either confirmed what the other MD's said or had different ideas to give. Our first oncologist was extremely pessimistic in his own kind of way and definately recommended no treatment. But all of the other MD's were so much more positive and optimistic. So it never hurts to keep on asking? Get a copy of your records and a copy of all your films and tests. If you do have a cough, it's simple to do a sputum specimen. I recommend to continue to ask questions until you are satisfied with the results. Hope this helps. (Seems like Rich or dadsimeon - i think that's his log on - also has adenocarcinoma with BAC like features who had lung and adrenal gland tumors - And He's had a good survival rate) Hope this helps and keep on living your life!! The oncologist we switched to told my dad that he never give statistics because nobody knows - He told my dad to break the records - someone has to! So here's to you - break the record!! The oncologist we switched to also told my dad that he could do no treatments but that he could monitor him every month with an x ray to see if the tumors were growing or not and then my dad could decide if he wanted treatment or no treatment at that time. The first MD we saw wanted my dad to decide within a month or so what to do. Maybe your MD is pressuring you too much to make a decision too early. shirley