lymph nodes swelling?

[skytub]

hello all my name is skytub and I was wondering if your lymph nodes are swelling and there is no sign of infection anywhere what infection might I have and not no it. My doctor has set me up for pet scan because the ct i took showed small marble size in right lung I have copd but it is the left lung that bothers me and the nodes swelling are in the left side under my arm and in breast but the doctor said all my nodes were swelling he did not say where but i do know for sure they started in my neck then went to left side under arm and in breast, I told my doctor over a year ago about this happining... thanks for any input and your time. skytub

[carrieann1976]

My husband went in to see his doctor recently after complaining of reoccuring bouts of nausea.  He always had the dry heaves but never vommited.  After the doctor put him on Prilosec he was fine for a couple weeks and then it started again.  Now the doctor had him go in for ct scan.  They found that the lymph nodes in teh abdomen were swollen but there was no large mass.  He mentioned that in his 20 years he never read that swollen lymph nodes were scattered.  This morning he went in for a chest ct and x-ray to make sure they werent swollen anywhere else.  We don't have the results yet but the x-ray tech did say that everything looked ok.  What could this mean?  He has had no other symptoms.  The doctor said if it were an infection he would have been very ill.  I am fearing the worst.  If it is a malignency, what type of cancer are we looking at?

[skytub]

The ones in my neck were the ones to begin with that had been swelling that long,they haven't been that way lately. But the ones under my arm and in breast have been I know this because I could feel them. But thank you so much for the info my pet scan will be done friday 14, 2008 8:30 a.m. so do not know how long it will take to get the results back but will hold out for the best. I do thank you again for your response and reply. I have a wonderful doctor and he does listen to my complaints well, so I kind of thought that mabe he was ruleing out the malignancy thing first. Will the pet scan show the nodes swelling as well and malignancy possibility also. thank you again for your time I know you doctors have to stay busy all the time.         skytub

[Fernando Roque, MD]

Hi.  If those nodes have been persistently swollen for over a year, these may be caused by a chronic infection like tuberculosis.  If you have COPD you certainly are more prone to develop chronic or recurrent lung infection.  The other possibility is that the enlarged nodes may be a sign of an undiscovered malignancy.  I think this is the reason why your doctor wants to do a PET scan, to rule out this scenario.