Multifocal Adenocarcinoma of the lung, continual recurrences

Posted by Merry, Alumni Mentor @merpreb, Dec 11, 2018

We have multifocal adenocarcinoma of the lung. @linda10 and @sakota.- Please join me in this discussion.

For a short explanation of this tongue twister. Briefly, Multifocal Adenocarcinoma (MAC) of the lung is a clinical entity of multiple synchronous (less than 6 months) or metachronous (more than 6 months), often ground-glass opacities (GGO) on CT scan, typically indolent-behaving cancers. There is a scarce amt of clinical data to guide treatment decisions.
This came from http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2017.35.15_suppl.e20041.

This means that more than one potential cancerous lesion, mostly ground glass, shows up at a time. For instance I had 3 cancerous lesions 10 years ago in my left lung and in the same area. They were all different sizes. They grow at different rates.

Multifocal adenocarcinoma is a very complex cancer because the medical profession doesn't know if the ground glass lesions are the primary cancer or small metastases of another primary cancer. They don't even know where they start..

Multifocal Adenocarcinoma has sub types and it's management is based on whether it's indolent or very virulent.

These are very simplistic explanations. Even doctors are confused by it and it's only been within the last twenty years that they have separated it from a Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma (BAC).

The constant recurrences are the buggers. Not only do we have to constantly face lots of CT scans but when lung cells change, which they often do, we are in terror of another virulent cancer. I presently have several ground glass lesions. And I have had many that have disappeared. It's enough to drive you nuts and PTSD is exacerbated by the frequency of these devils.

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

@lindaibm

Hello TrudyHS,
Do you know the cause of your cancer? Have your ever worn a Philips CPAP machine? I would like to talk further with you.

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Hello,
No cause known. No risk factors. No I haven't ever used any kind of CPAP machine.

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@lindaibm

Hello Everyone,
Do you know the cause of your cancer? Have your ever worn a Philips CPAP machine? I am also struggling with multi focal lung cancers. I would like to talk further with you.

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@lindaibm, please note that your personal contact information has been removed as per the Community Guidelines. Mayo Clinic Connect is a public forum. To share personal contact information it is advisable to use the secure private message function.

I think you might be interested in this related discussion:
- CPAP (Phillips recall) and Cancer https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cpaps-and-cancer/

I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling. It is natural to search for the cause. It's not always possible to pinpoint the diagnosis of cancer on one single culprit. It may be environmental, genetic, aging, or even unknown.

What is your treatment plan?

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Does anyone with Multifocal adenocarcinoma have the MET Exon 14 skipping mutation? All other mutations are negative in my pathology report. PD-L1 positive 50%.

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