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 My mom was dianosed with non small cell lung cancer (Stage 3A). Prior to surgery, she had three rounds of chemo. The she had upper lobectomy, lower wedge resection and they removed the lymphnodes around those areas including the lymnodes in the middle. Four of the thirty lymnodes came back with microscopic signs of disease. Intially, I had no concerns that the cancer had spread, but there is a noticable change in her personality and behavior. My mom has always been a planner and very logical. Her behavior even before the surgery has been questionable. She was always methodical -- she was unable to even plan a trip, she broke down and cried; stating she couldn't seem to do this. This is not my mother, she taught herself to play the stock market. She's quiet, conversation has been is limited. My brother came for a visit and she barely said a dozen words to him and showed no interest in pictures he had brought. There is marked change in behavior, in reasoning and in personality. She had a CT four or five months ago before she started chemo, at what point should we ask for another CT of MRI of her brain? Are my concerns valid? The doctor wants her to do three more rounds of chemo but, if this cancer has spread I want the decisions to make sense for her.
Answer Unfortunately it is actually rather common for lung cancers to spread to the brain. Lung cancer patients always have a bad prognosis but if this kind of spread has happened it is unfortunately even worse. So your observations are quite valid. Radiation therapy may temporarily be of help but in this situation - if it indeed has spread to her brain - there is no cure because then she has a stage 4 lung cancer which in principle at present is incurable. If it has spread to her brain her survival time - even with treatment - will be quite short too, a few months at most. But it may be much shorter too. I'm sorry I have nothing better to tell you! DEMAND an MRI scan (it is the best, better than a CT scan in a case like this) of her brain right away! No use waiting!
