Bronchoscopy Question

kw2807 · New User Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 5

I posted this on the "General Questions" forum, when I guess I maybe should have posted here. Sorry.

*****************

Hi,

I hope you can please bear with me, am new to this forum as I unfortunately am needing to try to find out some information regarding my Father's health.

My father, ex-smoker (gave up about 20 years ago) is aged 74, and in compromised health (his medical history includes active TB many years ago, DVT, severe head trauma about 10 years ago which resulted in massive surgery which resulted in bad epilepsy (albeit now controlled by medication), and frequent bouts of severe bronchitis).

For about the past two months he has been suffering from a chronic cough which somedays is barely there and other days barely stops. He has lost weight, feels constantly fatigued, sometimes produces sputum (has been bloody but this is not typical), and has awful night sweats.

Anyway, he took himself to his GP (UK version of PCP) who referred him for a chest x-ray with suspected TB. The chest x-ray came back abnormal with "something" on the lower lobe of one lung. On a prior x-ray from about 10 years ago, the x-ray showed no abnormality. The lung specialist who had taken his case at this point ordered him a series of tests including a blood panel, sputum analysis, bronchoscopy w/biopsy, and CT scan. He was concerned due to my Father's risk factors (age + symptoms + the fact that he used to be a smoker). He did not rule anyting in or out. Anyway, the blood and sputum results are pending, and the CT scan is scheduled for about 2 weeks from now. My question is regarding the bronchoscopy which was performed today.

The Dr. who performed the bronchoscopy and the lung specialist (who sat in on the test for some reason), said they saw nothing sinister at all during the examination. Infact, they said his lungs looked rather clean. They did note that his respiratory tract was very inflamed however. They did take tissue samples btw. So now we are really confused, as to how a mass or something can show up on an x-ray but they see nothing unusual at all during the bronchoscopy. What could this mean ?

Thanks for any insight.

Best,
Kerry.

redchez200 · Regular Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 10

Hi

I don't mean to scare you, but my Dad had a bronchoscopy about 6 weeks ago. He had been getting blood in his sputum and was sent for a chest x-ray. The x ray showed an abnormality on his left lung and he was sent for bronchoscopy and CT Scan. The bronchoscopy was the day before the CT scan.

When he came out of the bronchoscopy the nurse had said to him that they couldn't take a biopsy, as there was nothing to take a biopsy of- at this time we were told he could stop worrying. The next day he had a CT scan and this nurse said that sometimes the bronchoscopy can't reach the cells it needs to reach.

About 10 days after the CT scan, my dad was told that there was still cause for concern and that he needed further investagation via a CT assisted needle biopsy. He was told that the bronchoscopy couldn't reach the effected area. The need biopsy confirmed stage 2 Non small cell lung cancer.

I don't want to scare you, I just think it is good to have an awareness that a bronchoscopy is not always reliable, I would have liked to have this information.

At present my Dad is in hospital after having part of his lung removed. If this had been caught any later, he would not have been a suitable candidate for surgery. We have been told he is lucky that it had caught been caught early enough for surgery and he stands a good chance of being completely cured.

LauraS · New User Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 4

I had a needle biopsy and a bronchosccopy which both came back "inconclusive" after a suspicious chest x-ray. I went for a second opinion and had a second bronchoscopy which finally came back positive for lung cancer. What was previous written by redchez is true... It's not always possible to collect the right cells during a bronchoscopy.

After xrays, breathing tests, needle biopsys, two bronchoscopys and a pet scan, Drs were still was not convinced that I had cancer. (I didn't have any symptoms except shortness of breath . . . and even that wasn't bad).

Hopefully you are not dealing with cancer. But if you are, maybe it's a good thing that it's not so easy to diagnose. Maybe that could mean it's an early stage.

Good luck to you!

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Lung Cancer Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others