Sunday, July 12, 2009

Can an ultra sound detect Lung Cancer? Or would a CAT scan or other tests be needed to make sure

Can an ultra sound detect Lung Cancer? Or would a CAT scan or other tests be needed to make sure?
Is it possible that a person could have lung cancer for a few months or more, and it NOT show up on an Ultra Sound?
Medicine - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
The diagnosis is typically made by chest x-ray or CT scan and confirmed by biopsy.
2 :
ultrasound, cat scan, x-rays, and mri are just tests that visualize the insides of your bodies. Once the doctors see some malignancies from the results of these tests, they usually request for further tests depending on the site where the malignancies were located. in your case, they would usually request for an endoscopy, specifically bronchoscopy. This test can provide the doctors a better view of your lungs and at the same time they can also perform a biopsy. The biopsy will confirm if it is a malignant or benign tumor. As for your second question, it is possible to have lung cancer and not show up in the ultrasound. It depends on the rate of growth of the tumor and the current size of the tumor when the test was performed.
3 :
Ultrasounds are not really used for lung diseases since they do not have the ability to image the organ very well. Usually the cancer will first be seen as a spot on an x-ray, at which point a CT would then be done to evaluate the lungs. MRI's can occasionally be used also. Once the spot is seen on a CT, the doctor will then decide if he wants to do a bronchoscopy or an open biopsy. The bronchoscopy is basically a camera slipped down your throat and into your lungs to do two things. One, they can directly visualize the cancer if it inside the airway. Two, the doctor can biopsy the area if it is visible and shoot small amount of water in and suck it back up to check that for cancer cells. If that cannot be done, the surgeon might have ot do an open biopsy, which is opening the chest to get a part of the tumor. Usually this is done with the intent of removing the cancer immediately if a quick check determines it is cancer and it is a solitary lesion. Reasons to do this, are many but basically all boil down to location. For some reason the cancer is not able to be reached by the camera.

Read more discussions :