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Chemotherapy for lung or breast cancer
My aunt had 1st stage breast cancer last year, and went for mastectomy.
Now, her X-ray shows that she is having a lump in the lung, which grow
from 1.7cm to 4cm in this 3 months, in the opposite side of the body (breast cancer on the left, lung lump on the right, near to middle). She
has absolutely no symptoms, no cough, no chest pain. Her doctor said that the biopsy to the lung is risky. So, without the
biopsy to the lung, she is given further hormone therapy, and when it
doesn't shrink the growth, the doctor advise for chemo therapy. I have a few questions : 1). If biopsy is risky, what type of risk ? Is it fatal ? (This is
really my main question, because I feel that without knowing whether it
is cancer / which type of cancer, the treatment could be futile...) 2). Is chemo therapy same for breast cancer or lung cancer ? 3). Is it that if there is a lump in the lung, it is cancer ? Can it be
something else ? 4). Is it a spread from the previous breast cancer or primary lung
cancer ? 5). Is it true that when you have one cancer, it will be most likely the
spread of the previous cancer, instead of a new primary cancer ? 6). I have heard that if it is a spread from the breast cancer, it is
likely to appear in more than 1 lump in the lung, and it is likely to
spread to the liver, too. Is it true ?
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-There is a risk of bleeding. If this is not controllable this can lead
to death through exsanguination (blood is pumped into the lungs/bronchi
outside the blood vessels) and/or suffocation by the same mechanism. In
centers with modern equipment and experienced radiologists this risk is
small. Depends on what type of lung cancer it is. An adenocarcinoma would
respond to most if not all of the typical breast cancer chemo, the other
tumor types not. Did your aunt smoke? If not, this is more likely to be a metastasis of
the breast cancer. Check the tumor markers for breast and lung.
The treatment with hormones (tamoxifen I assume) is also a good idea if
your aunt is old and a biopsy or operation is too risky. -The biopsy of suspicious lung nodules is relatively routine. There are
risks which vary with individual patient dependent on lung function. There
are many factors which play into this decision. However the standard for a
solitary tumor in the lung in a reasonably healthy person is to pursue
histological diagnosis by cytology or biopsy via bronchoscopy or CT guided
needle biopsy. I would not count on this being a breast carcinoma metastasis. The chance
of it being a lung cancer is increased if there is a history of smoking. An
early stage lung cancer is potentially curable and your aunt might miss that
chance if she is being treated with tamoxifen which will have no effect on
lung cancer. Consider getting a CT scan of the chest and abdomen. If she has multiple
lung tumors or liver tumors then this is likely breast cancer and Tamoxifen
would be appropriate. If she has only one lung tumor then I would consider
getting a diagnosis. The possibility exists that her physicians believe she is in poor health
and would not tolerate the biopsy or an aggressive therapy if indeed she
had a stage I lung cancer. If she is unwilling or unable to tolerate a
thoracotomy or radiation therapy then it probably is not worth pursuing a
biopsy.
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