Lung Metastasis
Lung metastasis is rare with prostate cancer, but it does happen. If you have experienced this we would like to hear about your treatment and how you have coped.
Thanks for putting out this feeler, Richard. You and I have talked about this. This is a big forum and it's surprising that not a single person has responded to this. It's hard to believe that my lung metastasis is that rare. I'm also on the forum at the Mayo clinic with similar results....silence. It's enough to make me wish my metastasis was to the bones and lymph nodes, where there is a ton of feedback!
Hi
. Yes, it is surprising. I have seen numbers of lung involvement of metastatic cases ranging from 9 to 46% (which seems like a ridiculously large range - you would think it wouldn't be tough to come up with more accurate number). This study mentions 9.1%, with 4.6% as isolated lung cancer metastasis: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12140686/. This one also sites the 4.6% for lung-only metastasis and highlights that "Lung-only metastatic prostate cancer represents a good prognostic caracteristic:" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558767322001215. Being a math guy, given the tens of thousands of men diagnosed with metastatic PCa every year, even the 4.6% number of lung-only cases would still be thousands and the high end of the numbers cited for lung-involvement in overall metastasis would be a lot of men. It shouldn't be this hard to get feedback. Hope these articles are posted are useful. Best, Richard (Team Member)
The first article was a bit disconcerting, but the second was extremely positive! To quote from the summary, "Lung-only metastatic prostate cancer appears to be a good prognostic indicator allowing for ADT with or without surgery to be an effective treatment option to achieve a complete and durable response."
I have lung-only metastasis and am on ADT plus abiraterone. I also had surgery to do a lung resection and remove many of the worst nodules. Even though I'm a gleason score of 9, this article gave me much hope, even though the trial only had 10 patients.
It's very interesting that only 4.6% of prostate cancer patients have lung-only metastasis, as you would still think that a forum this size of this one would turn up a few.
As always, thank you for the good information. I've learned more from you than anywhere - and from anyone - else.
I just had my latest CT scan today (I do them every 90 days) and have an appointment with my oncologist to discuss results and get my latest Lupron shot. So far the abiraterone/lupron is doing it's job and hopefully the CT scan results continue to show that. I'm at the Fred Hutch cancer center in Seattle, which is pretty renowned in the cancer field and they are a Center of Excellence.
Tom.
Well, I have good news and not so good news.
The good news is the results of my CT scan last Monday showed that the remaining lung nodules are still stable and no new growths. Yay!
The not so good news is my latest blood tests showed some abnormalities that are a bit concerning. As a result, I'm be having a skull-to-mid-thigh PET scan in the next week or so to see if anything else is going on. My oncologist doesn't think so but wants the PET scan to be sure.
Talk about bursting the bubble of the CT scan! That's cancer for you....all ups and downs.Hi
. Hopefully the oncologist is right and the test is more about being better safe than sorry. Please feel free to keep us posted. Best, Richard (Team Member)
Just got the results from the PET scan yesterday. The good news is that no additional cancer lit up. The maybe not so good news is that there was a small irregularity detected on my lower spine and on one rib. Also, there was a mildly increased uptake in the GI area (the main reason for PET scan was an increasing cea score, which can indicate stomach cancer).
My oncologist doesn't think these are a big deal, since they didn't light up, but just to be safe I'm go have an endoscopy in November to address the cea rising score, and an MRI in January for the bone findings.
Sigh....two more times to be on pins and needles waiting for results!Hi
. First, let me say glad to hear that nothing is "lighting up." Second, so you know what the CEA test score was? You may already have this information, but here is a page from the Cleveland Clinic on the CEA test and what the various scores may point to: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/22744-cea-test-carcinoembryonic-antigen. I'm sure more tests are not what you wanted for the rest of this year, but, again, hoping your doctor is right about not being a big deal. Best, Richard (Team Member)
