Cavitary MAC Resolved Completely on CT Scan?

Posted by bellsina71 @bellsina71, Sep 26, 2023

Hello everyone! I haven't been posting for a while because I've been so busy since I had my surgery in March. Everything's been going really great though. I think I told everyone they got all the cancer of the intestine, so I was just working on getting rid of the MAC!

I had a CT scan done about a week ago and the results came back and what it says is: complete resolution of right sided pulmonary cavitary lesion and also says that there are no nodules and no consolidation. There was quite a bit of consolidation when they started and tons of nodules. And I had a large cavity..3.5". I only started treatment in March for this. It seems crazy that this would resolve so quickly. I had been taking the Airikayce for the past couple months and prior to that was only on two of the three antibiotics because of a interaction with another medication. I was on the ethambutol and azithromycin. So I guess I'm one of those cases where I didn't need all three of those big antibiotics. My question is that I was told by my ID doctor that cavities don't go away. They can collapse, is that with this means? If it's completely resolved? I'm a little confused. I don't see my infectious disease doctor until November. I'm going to have to put a call into him. I guess. I did see my cancer doctor last week. He did look at the scan and he thought that it looked like my lung grew back. I told him that lungs don't grow back-obviously it's not his specialty! He did say it look like there was lung tissue there now where are the cavity had been. Who's He didn't have the right computer software to look at the CT scan like the radiologist can, but said that it looked a lot better than it did 3 months ago. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some interpretation of what that could possibly mean? Does it sound like the cavity actually collapsed if it says complete resolution? Previous CT scans it would say that it was an abscess or it would say it was a cavity, I think it was a combination of both depending if it was infected or not...

Anyway, any advice anyone can give would be great. I hope everyone's doing really well on here! There's a couple people I've kept in contact with on here. In my lowest of low times this was the best site that I've ever been on for people to really be helpful and uplifting!! Thank you all!!!! Love and healing!!!!!!

Angela

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Profile picture for lilianna @lilianna

I do not have cavities but a lot of nodules on both lungs. I had a CTscan last week and the results show there is no change and things are stable and the mucus plugs are still there like last time. I understood that taking antibiotics should make some change for better. The doctor says it is good news but do the antibiotics even work? I do not cough up anything, sometimes a tiny bit of clear stuff so its never enough to send to the lab. I keep sterile cups at home just in case but there is nothing. So practically the doctors do not check if my MAC converted and i am very nervous about the situation. Has anybody experienced something similar. I am seeing my pulmonologist in two weeks.

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@lilianna I'm now in a similar situation. I don't produce enough sputum for meaningful lab results and after my most recent CT, I'm not sure if the antibiotics are working. How did you end up proceeding after your CT?

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Profile picture for maureen2022 @maureen2022

great news! Thanks for sharing. I also had a large cavity bigger than 3 cm. I took antibiotics for 12 months. I didn't have anything more than mild symptoms. My doc said my cavity had resolved and healed but it didn't go away. It. shrunk and the lining changed alot, and I think it is scar. But I have "no active infection". I do a lot of airway clearance even though I don't cough anything up, because I hear helps prevent infection from returning.

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Were you able to conclude there's "no active infection" from the CT scan alone? Or did you also have reliable sputum samples?

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