Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Can pneumonia be mistaken for tuberculosis or lung cancer


Can pneumonia be mistaken for tuberculosis or lung cancer?
My grandfather is currently in the hospital with pneumonia. He has a mass on his lung and they said they are going to be testing for tuberculosis that he may have gotton when he served in the Korean war nearly 60 years ago. They are also going to test for lung cancer. He's lost 15lbs in a week, he gets the chills and he has a cough..I'm not sure what else hes feeling. Anybody know any knowledgable information on these 3 diseases?
Infectious Diseases - 2 Answers
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1 :
Believe that they are running all these test to be sure of the diagnosis. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish. My mother used to get diagnosed with pneumonia a lot, when in reality what they were seeing on the xray was scaring from COPD (Chronic Pulmonary Disease). Fifteen pounds is a tremendous amount of weight to lose in a week however, but that could be explained from being ill and not being able to eat much. I know it is hard to wait for test results, but try not to panic. They will find out the answer and treat your grandfather for whatever is the problem. I am sure he is already on intravenous antibiotics. Take care and try not to stress.
2 :
Pneumonia is a mass or water in the lungs that they have to drain out what they do is they stick a chest tube in your ribs and they put tape to hold it in place Cancer is when you loose a lot weight at one shot like what you said 15 lbs in a week the chills and so on and so forth Tuberculosis is a disease that they can treat with medications hope this helps you.




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