Fluid build up in the lung cavity

Posted by tedvoelker @tedvoelker, 3 days ago

February 2024 I was diagnosed with stage four non small cell lung cancer that metastasized into my right femur and left frontal lobe. After 2 months of Osimertinib my frontal lobe tumour had disappeared and one of three tumours in my right lung had also disappeared. My radiation was moved up a month as my tumour in my right femur had doubled in size. October 2024 brief stay in hospital was treated as an infection. Since November I started thoracentesis but after the first one had a trapped lung. Spent 19 days in the hospital and over 5 litres removed. Now I get a weekly thoracentesis to drain fluid which has been as little as 350 ml to 1.1 litres. They don’t know why the fluid continues to accumulate. I getting frustrated after 13 thoracentesis, does anyone out there understand what causing this and can I expect this to end in the future. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Ted

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Lung Cancer Support Group.

sharilynn | @sharilynn | 2 days ago

Hi Ted, My husband has the same cancer and has started to develop pleural effusion that needs draining every so often. Has anyone suggested a permanent drain that you can manage yourself? They have told us that it is from the cancer and will keep happening. I’m sorry to have to share that and sincerely hope someone has a different answer or experience. Best of luck, SN

mally007 | @mally007 | 23 hours ago

When I was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer I also had to have several thoracentesis'. I had pleural catheters placed and did the draining at home. I was fortunate that it didn't cause me any discomfort and my husband did a great job of draining them. I had one catheter in for 8 months and one in for over a year. The last one was removed when my lung had several loculated places and the drain was not able to collect fluid. I felt so much better once the fluid was under control.