On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:03:05 -0700, "verse.notes"
<verse.notes@gmail.com> wrote:
>Male, 51, quit smoking cigarettes 18 years ago (after 18 years of
>smoking), quit cigars two years ago (after four years). Been around a
>lot of
>passive smoke, until recent years. Took a Lung Cat scan because my
>doctor and I figured I was borderline and this would be a good
>risk/cost/reward tool. Scans showd one small "spot" on upper right
>lobe - 5 mm.
>90 days later another scane -- high contrast: no change in size.
>Another 90 days later a third scan with no contrast: no change and
>radiologist description now calls it fiber-something, which my GP says
>means scar tissue, rather than a spot. The GP says let's do it again
>in six months. Should I insist on 90 days or is a six month wait okay
>this time? He was pretty adamant. Thoughts?
Most cancers have a doubling time measured in days to a few months, so
if you go 90 days without any change in size, the doubling time must
be much longer than 3 months. The other observation is that spots in
the 5mm size range are rarely cancers. I have a 12mm spot that was
missed for many years because of something on the other lung that was
pretty specatular (a golf ball sized hole). They wanted a CT guided
needle biopsy, and I was unenthusiastic. The risk of something bad
happening was too high, in fact the pulmonologist I eventually saw
said he'd take odds on the lung collapsing.
Because it is larger than 10mm, it falls within the guide lines for
PET scanning. It was PET scanned, and it is very 'cold'. With a
history of Coccidiodomycosis, the odds are overwhelming it is a cocci
nodule. In any case, I have now had 2 CT scans, and one PET scan. One
more in November, and if it hasn't changed visibly within a year, the
advice is that it is something I will die with, but not of.
The small size, and failure to change over a 90 day period, argue
strongly against any agressive tumor, in fact it argues against any
tumor of any kind.I wouldn't be in a hurry to get is scanned again.
Each CT scan is healthy whack of Xray energy, and that is not without
risk either.
IN any case the radiologists wanted to scan it at 90-120 day
intervals, the Pulmonologist after the PET scan said 6 months is often
enough as long as there are no symptoms and no evidence of growth.
Lung CT scan question (follow up) 
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