Adrenal lesion

[seasidebob]

Hi. I was diagnosed with right upper lung NSLC last December and had a lobeectory in March. The staging at that point was pT2aN1M0 as it had spread to the hilar node. I did four cycles of Cisplatin/Vinorelbine adjuvent chemo which I finished in August. Right after that I had a CT scan and have only just got the results which have shown "a newly developed soft tissue lesion seen in the right adrenal gland measuring 15x11mm, metastsis cannot be excluded". Having read a lot of medical reports, when the say 'cannot be excluded' it often means that's what they think it is!

My oncologist is booking PET and MRI scans ASAP and indicates that if it turns out to be a secondary then aggressive treatment - surgery or stereotactic radiotherapy - would be the way to go. Of course if it turns out there are multiple secondaries then the options are less clear...

What I'd like to know is how this thing managed to grow while I was doing chemotherapy and what this means for my overall prognosis which seemed fairly clear before

Thanks

Bob

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Hi Bob,

I am sorry to hear your recent results.The reason may be that the adrenal lesion was resistant to the specific chemotherapy drugs you were given for your lung cancer. For example,certain adrenal lesions require very specific drugs or combinations of drugs which are designed specifically to block hormones produced by abnormal adrenal cells. Only the doctors managing your care will be able to advise you what the overall prognosis will be.It seems as if you are being managed very well by the medical team and hopefully you get the proposed investigations and treatment soon.

All the team at the Roy Castle Helpline wish you all the very best.