Lung Cancer? How advanced is it?

[Kim180]

My brother in law has not been looking well for the last few months.  He also lost 40 pounds and his skin coloring as turned a grayish color. He said it was just stress from his job. He went to a local doctor who gave him a chest xray, because he has been a smoker for over 30 years.  He just turned 48 last week.  The doctor called him to come to his office immediately.  He told him that both lungs had spots and shadows on them.  He told him that it looks bad.  He is going for a full body scan tomorrow.  Is this definetely cancer?  If it is both lungs does that mean it is at an advanced stage?  What if it didn't start in the lungs but started somewhere else and spread to the lungs?  I am that that would be a better situation?  Is that true.  I feel so numb from all this.

[Monica M, MD]

Hi,
The shadows in the lungs is a cause for concern but  your brother in law needs further investigations to establish the diagnosis. There are various causes of lung shadows including infections, inflammatory conditions, cancer etc. At this point it is not possible to say that they are definitely due to cancer. If the diagnosis of cancer is confirmed after further investigations, the presence of tumors in both lungs indicates an advanced stage of disease. The possibility that another cancer may have spread to the lungs also exists. It is a difficult situation for you, but I this point it would be prudent to wait for the results of further investigation rather than worry about all the possibilities. Further investigations would probably include a CT scan of the Chest, bronchoscopy, a biopsy or FNAC from the lung shadows etc.
All the Best and God Bless!

[Kim180]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly doctor.  I am a little confused.  I understand now what the shadows in the lung xrays might be, but what about the dark spots in the lungs.  Are those tumors?  If so, then that means he is in advanced stages of lung cancer?

[Monica M, MD]

Dear Kim,
At this moment it is really difficult to say if this is cancer. You need to wait for the results of additional investigations.

[Kim180]

I appreciate your time.  Thank you

Kim180

[sumerajesh]

My husband underwent surgery and six rounds of chemo as he had a tumor in his leg. It was in the month of Jan this year that he was out with all that and started working once again. We had the routine check ups and all results were good. However, last week, he felt that there was similar kind of pain in same leg and same place. After all the check ups and PET scan, we found that the tumor has again developed in the same place additionally, the results said that he is got "three nodules in his lung". Please let me know if this is dangerous for his lungs and it would spreead? and if second time cancerous tumor is curable???

[Monica M, MD]

Hi,
It would be helpful to know what kind of tumor your husband had? What was the post-operative pathology report of the resected tumor? It appears that the tumor has recurred locally and has also spread to the lungs. At this point the treatment would probably include second line chemotherapy. The outcome would depend on the nature of the tumor, the current disease load, response to the second line chemotherapy and the general condition of the patient.
All the best!