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Posted

If you would like to share, where are your mets? My husband has 2 types of NSCLC and I am curious if anyone has mets to the groin, under arm, or inside hip/pelvis. Research says it's rare but I just wonder about real world experiences. Thank you for answering.

Posted

Yes they are rare but Axillary lymph node ( under arm) and cervical lymph node ( groin) fo happen.  I've rarely heard of both I've even seen a metastasis to  toe.  Since all blood goes through the lungs, where ever it lows the  cancer can follow.

 

personally mine were  1 small met ton liver,  Chest and neck   too many to count.   1 skin met and 3 to the brain plus one that was probably a  pineal cyst.

 

 

Posted

QqIt's extremely rare for Cancer to metastasize to soft tissue. Generally solid tumors set up shop in organs. Most of mine were in lymph nodes but one was head and neck cancer That May have been soft tissue  or a lymph node so overrun it was indiscernible as one. Both skin and bones are organs .

Posted

Thank you for answering. His original tumors are Adenocarcinoma in the left lung and Squamous cell Carcinoma in the right lung. He has several lymph nodes involved in the chest area that were biopsied and are defiantly cancer but the ones I'm most interested in information about are the ones in his under arm, groin and hip. The reasons for this are that he has had hip pain for years and also lower back pain that had no related injury. He was just officially diagnosed with lung cancer May of 2023. He had a PET scan in July to prepare for his treatments in Aug and Sept of last year. They only officially diagnosed and treated the tumors and lymph nodes in his chest but there were notes made about the other lymph nodes. This was the wording used:

“Mildly hypermetabolic right paratracheal and left axillary lymph nodes are indeterminate for nodal disease. For reference, the right paratracheal node measures 1.5 x 1.3 cm (previously 1.8 x 1.1 cm) with a maximum SUV of 3.8 (previous max SUV of 4.6) best seen image 132. The left axillary lymph node measures approximately 2.2 x 1.0 cm (previously 1.5 x 0.2 cm) with a maximum SUV of 3.3 (previous maximum SUV of 0.7)” 

“New hypermetabolic nonenlarged left inguinal lymph node with SUV max 10.3 (image 311) and left external iliac lymph node with SUV max 5.5 (image 303) are indeterminate but unlikely to be related to the patient's pulmonary malignancy.”

Since then (July 2023) he has done 35 treatments of radiation and 5 chemo treatments. After that was finished he started Imfinzi in Oct. 

The reason I am concerned is because we have not been told that his cancer has spread but I feel like based on things he's gone through lately that it is. Our Next scan is April.

 

Posted

It's impossible to say with certainty from just a PET scan, I too would be worried. But lymph nodes are routinely hypermetabolic. 10 seems high but still not certain for malignancy. I've personally had many hypermetabolic benign lymph nodes. Highest SUV of 6.

One very telling sign that this is NOT progression is that the Imfinzi continues.  It's generally stopped on progression.  Your oncologist should be able to tell you why they don't feel it's progression.

Posted

letsdothis,

Sorry, I'm late to the party. To clarify, has your husband had only one PET scan? You cite a July 2023 PET but the report posted suggests an earlier PET scan: "(previous max SUV of 4.6)" and "(previous maximum SUV of 0.7)". There would only be previous SUVs if the report you cite was a second scan. Therefore, my comments assume the July 2023 PET was his second scan.

Here is some information on PET scans that I generated several years ago and particularly note the information on SUV magnitude. I was diagnosed before PET scans were introduced but in 20 years of surviving this disease involving 4 recurrences, I've learned quite a bit about this technology. The report you posted is a mixed result. The right paratracheal and left axillary lymph nodes show SUV reductions that suggest metastatic disease is declining. The inguinal and iliac lymph nodes, reported as "new" have SUVs that suggest metastatic activity. 

It appears your husband's first-line treatment of chemotherapy and fractional radiation (35 treatments given over a period of time) have had a good effect on the disease in his lungs, but the newly reported lymph nodes with elevated SUVs suggest a recurrence. Therefore, I think your concern about progression is valid.

That said, there are reasons your husband's oncologist might continue Imfinzi after a recurrence. Moreover, there are conventional chemotherapy agents that can be combined with Imfinzi to counter a recurrence. But, I would ask your husband's oncologist about the recurrence and the plan to deal with it.

Stay the course.

Tom

 

 

Posted

 

On 2/27/2024 at 8:23 AM, edivebuddy said:

It's extremely rare for Cancer to metastasize to soft tissue.

@edivebuddy, I was initially staged at III, with spread to hilar and other lymph nodes, IOW, soft tissues. (Hence the staging.) Due to the location of the big-a$$ tumor, they could biopsy only the lymph nodes. 

Posted
54 minutes ago, Karen_L said:

 

@edivebuddy, I was initially staged at III, with spread to hilar and other lymph nodes, IOW, soft tissue

 

Lymph nodes are not soft tissue. They are by far the most common metastasis sites. They are organs. Soft tissues are tissues other than bone that connect or surround the organs of the body not the organs themselves. 

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/understanding-cancer/anatomy-gallery/soft-tissue.html

Posted

Brain, right rib bone, back and lymph nodes.  All gone except the lung mass which is probably there but extinct.  

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