Experience I'm a Doctor of Medicine. Licensed/certified physician and surgeon and specialist in Medical
Oncology and Radiation therapy in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and the European Union. Background in Radiation Therapy, Medical Oncology, Radiation Protection, Nuclear Medicine, Diagnostic Radiology, Gynecological Oncology, Clinical Pathology, Clinical Cytology,Hematology and Internal Medicine.
M.D. from the faculty of medicine, Royal Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Have also been an exchange student at the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem Israel. Former medical consultant, Swedish National Board of Radiation Protection. Former Police Surgeon and Medical Examiner, Stockholm Police Department. Former Chief Medical Officer, The Royal Guards, The Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Household Brigade, Royal Swedish Army Medical Corps. Now in private practice in Stockholm, Sweden.
I also answer questions in these other categories: General History,
Military History,
Brain Tumors,
Breast Cancer,
Colon Cancer
Question 63 year old man with prostate cancer, heart disease--complained about lower pain, radiating down leg,leg and foot swelling, extreme fatigue and weight loss (he was obese--225 lbs, 5'5" height-lost 60 pounds quickly..-Sent to hospital with kidney failure, MRI identifies a tumor in pelvis about 5 inches--Biopsy done--report is small cell cancer...Is it possible to approximate how long this tumor had been growing? A few weeks? a few months? He had been complaining of debilitating pain for 6 months. Doctors were focusing on spine deterioration: MRI of spine only (not of pelvis area),spinal epidurals, etc. Did the doctors add to his problems by not diagnosing earlier with MRI? Couldn't this mass have been identified earlier? The patient died shortly after hospitaliztion.
Answer It has probably been there for quite some time, probably more than a year even though there is some uncertainty here as I do not know its growth rate (cancers just like patients are individuals not identical copies/clones). An earlier diagnosis was most probably possible had a more extended MRI search been done. To what extent that had helped the patient however is most uncertain. This cancer was probably very malignant, aggressive and growing fast - in spite of being there for quite some time!
