Biopsy

Why would my husband have to undergo another biopsy if one has already been done and they have tissue samples from the original biopsy? He had the Xray, Ct-Scan, PetScan and biopsy and they still can't tell us for sure if he has lung cancer let alone what type or stage it is in.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your husband? A repeat biopsy may be necessary to evaluate and confirm the diagnosis being considered. Also, according to studies, repeat biopsies and sometimes multiple repeat biopsies over the course of time can be informative and can help both patients and doctors in the management plan and monitoring of the condition present. It is best that you discuss this with your husband's attending physician to ease any worries. Hang on and stay positive always. Take care and do keep us posted.

[Gulfluvr]

My needle biopsy couldn't exclude malignancy so I'm going in for a wedge section biopsy. this way they are removing the entire nodule so they can biopsy it, and if malignant, they will remove my entire lobe. It's not a bad thing to have a second biopsy.

How did he do?

[geminigirl1963]

I'm sorry to hear your husband has been ill.  My mother was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.  She had an Xray, CT scan, biopsy and PET scan done.  The doctors said if she wanted to proceed and get chemo (she is not a surgical candidate), they would need to do another biopsy to determine the exact type of cancer she has so they would be able to determine the correct type of chemo to give her (she has decided against chemo so therefore did not have the second biopsy done)

My guess is that is probably the case with your husband.  Even though they may have some tissue samples left from the first biopsy, they may not be large enough, or from the right area for them to get the information they require to determine what type of chemo to give.

I am a little surprised that his doctors could not determine IF he had lung cancer or what stage it might be at with his PET scan.  It is my understanding that with a PET scan, because of the glucose type radioactive material they inject, it will "bind" to cancer cells (fast growing cells that "use" glucose) and will show up as "bright" spots on the scan.  So, therefore, if your husband's PET scan showed any of these bright spots, that should have indicated to the doctors that he does, in fact, have cancer.  Also, it was explained to us after they first discovered the spots on my mom's lungs - that based on those and then also the other areas that came up as "positive" on her PET scan, they were able to determine she was at STage 4 because of where it was showing (her lungs, lymph nodes and abdomen above her adrenal gland on the right).  They explained that the type of cancer they THOUGHT she had starts in the lungs and then spreads to the lymph nodes and adrenals.  So again, based on what showed up on your husband's PET scan, I would have thought they would at least have a good idea what stage he may be at.

I would definitely have a sit-down with his doctors and discuss their reasoning for wanting another biopsy and going over in depth the results of his PET scan.  My mom's doctor was able to actually show us her scans, so I would definitely ask yoru husband's doctor if he can show you the scan (my mom's doctor pulled it up on his computer).

I wish you and you rhusband the best and hope you get some answers soon.