Can anyone tell me how often a primary cancer tumor

Lucy · Guest

is not found? Is this common? Dr.s cannot find the primary tumor in my Mother's Metastatic Lung Cancer to the Brain. All tests of her lungs come back negative. She did have lung cancer 10 years ago and had her right upper lobe of lung removed.
Does not finding the tumor in her lungs help her prognosis? She is currently DX stage 1v metastatic lung cancer with a prognosis of 4-6 months.
Thank you so much to whomever will reply,
Lucy

lizziecee38 · Guest

Hi Lucy - don't know the answer to your questions, but can so identify with them. My twin brother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour when he was 50 years old. Went to a university hospital in London, UK,. and they said it was a secondary from lung cancer. Despite numerous MRI and CT scans, they never found the primary in his lungs.
He died within 11 months of diagnosis. I have breast cancer, hopefully in remission, but I didn't know anything about cancer when my brother died, not that I think it would have made any difference as we believe it was caused by cellular radiation - he was the UK's first Technical Manager for a cellphone company and lived with a cellphone on his right ear! My husband and I, and my sister, refuse to use cell-phones. Make of that what you will, but my husband was involved in radiation in the Ministry of Defence some 50 yrs ago, as was my brother in law, and they are both convinced that Bill's tumour was caused by radiation.

I wish you and your mother well - wish I could be of more help.
Take care, Liz.

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hi

A problem that we not uncommonly encounter is a cancer of unknown primary origin. It has been shown in studies that if the primary site is not found by conventional means (imaging, colonoscopy, endoscopy etc), the prognosis is really poor. We do not know why this is, but it may indicate that the tumor has such a malignant potential with very early metastasis, that treatments that have been tried have been unsucessful.

I wish I had better news, but this problem is not new in Medicine, and unfortunately we have made little progress so far.

yours sincerely
Leo
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Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

Lucy · Guest

Lizzie,
Thank you for your reply. I am so sorry to hear about your twin brother and I am praying your breast cancer is indeed in remission.
Cancer sure is auful, huh? I have a great respect for those who choose the cancer related fields to work in. I don't know if I could do it.
Leo, thank you also for the reply. I was thinking that not finding my mother's primary source of cancer would be good news. But the reality is that it may not be. I so appreciate your honesty about that. I have always had a weird feeling that this may be a pretty bad road to come. I am a realistic person who likes the facts. I don't want to spend time being in denial about her prognosis. My brother keeps thinking that this is not too bad of a thing that my mom has. He talks of it being no problem for her to "kick this thing" His reaction to this kind of scares me. It may be his way of dealing with it but I wonder if it is healthy for him to be sort of denying that she is so ill. According to my mothers dr.s, there is no cure for this and less than 2 percent live for 5 or more years.
Thank you for providing such a wonderful site to help people. I hope soon that more people find this site.
Lucy

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Lucy

I appreciate your comments. Definitelly people have very diverse ways of dealing with bad news. It is good to stick to the facts and know the truth about the disease, but another important thing is not to lose hope, since that is what drives people. And don't let anyone tell you that "nothing can be done", since there is always something that can be done, even if it's not targeting the tumor anymore, but emphasizing keeping the patient comfortable.

If I can be of help in any way, please do not hesitate to post.

regards and best of luck
Leo
_________________
Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

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