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lung nodules

Aging Well | Last Active: Oct 15 4:30pm | Replies (26)

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@hercules

Hi Sura, Thank you for your reply and the information on your nodule surveillance. I agree it is nerve wracking and I just started this process! It seems yours is a many years long process with times of stability. I guess that's a good thing. Have you ever had any one of them biopsied or done one of the liquid biopsy blood testing biomarkers? I've read they can give a better idea of the malignancy probability on nodules that can't be biopsied using invasive methods. Have your doctors given you much information about these fully ground glass nodules over the years? Mine are fully ground glass as well except one small part solid one. I am trying to learn as much as I can about them. I go see a pulmonologist in November. Thank you again for your reply. Wishing you good health!

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Replies to "Hi Sura, Thank you for your reply and the information on your nodule surveillance. I agree..."

I believe I was unclear. The process is pretty new to me. The nodules were found about 9 months ago when a chest Xray showed something suspicious. So this was followed by a CT scan which showed the nodules. My only other chest X-ray was Eight years Earlier, showing these same nodules but I was told by doctors not to worry (at that time there was no great push for CT's for former smokers). It was at this 9-month CT scan that the nodules were viewed again, and that they had doubled in size during those 8 years. But of course no one had any idea if they had 'suddenly' grown or slowly & steadily grown over the 8 years.....the next CT scan was six months later and it showed absolutely No Change in form, size, substance, margins.....Because they are pure ground glass with clearly defined edges, the lung surgeon and radiation oncologist decided that surveillance with 6-month CT's scan (over two years) was the treatment of choice. My next scan is in November. My radiation oncologist calls this Stage Zero, he is primarily searching for any change in the ground glass aspect. We stop the CT scans before 2 years if there is any significant change. I am under the treatment of the radiation oncologist becuase that is the direction I have decided to go - rather than surgical removal. It would be robot-assisted target radiation directly to the nodule(s). New therapies are coming on board really quicky, now the targeted radiation can include drugs directly injected at the site during radiation....i have not felt the need for any bio markers nor biopsies. The risks on the biopsy can be pretty high. I smoked for 47 years, stopped about 15 years ago so I am high-risk. I am now 78 - yikes, how did That happen?.....anyway when i first learned of the nodules I did a great deal of research. Longevity was a site I found tremendously useful.
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