I am a cancering survivor of Stage IIb lung cancer; adenocarcinoma with one
lymph node involvement. I have also heard about there being blood tests
that can detect the potential of recurrence, but I don't have any information on
it.. I went to a meeting at the herb society and there was a doctor of
Internal Medicine who spoke there and told me afterwards that he could tell from
blood tests if recurrence was indicated, but when I tried to make an appointment
with him.. his receptionist and I are not seeing eye to eye and so after 3 phone
calls.. still nothing.. She is insisting that I must change to him as my
primary care physician and my insurance company says I don't have to.. so
nothing to report there.. I have had 2 PET scans done and I truly believe in
them.. They are not 100% accurate but in the 90+ Percentile for detecting
tumors at .5cm. I would gladly trade in CT scans for the PET only...
I have much more faith in them. My oncologist did a Bone Marrow
Micrometastases test as well, which is used as an indicator/predictor of
recurrence. The following is the information on it:
QuickScan Reviews in Cancer
Management; 1996; February
Detection of Occult Bone
Marrow Micrometastases in Patients With Operable Lung Carcinoma. Cote RJ,
Beattie EJ, et al: ANN SURG 1995; 222 (October):
415-425
Objective: To assess bone
marrow micrometastases (BMM) as a predictor of systemic disease in patients with
primary operable non-small-cell carcinoma of the lung.
Design/Participants: Prospective analysis of 43 patients with stage I (n= 1 5),
11 (n=2), or III (n=26) lung cancer undergoing potentially curative
resection. Interventions: Bone marrow specimens were collected from a rib
fragment. lmmunohistochemical staining was performed with two monoclonal
antibodies that recognize epithelial tumor cell markers. Results: Of the
43 patients, 17 (40%) had bone marrow micrometastases detected (stage 1, 33%;
stage 11, 0%; and stage III, 46%). With a median follow-up of 13.6 months,
patients with BMM had a significantly higher risk of tumor recurrence (77% [13
of 17 patients] vs 23% [6 of 26]). Patients with BMM had significantly
earlier disease recurrence than those without BMM (median, 7.3 months vs 35.1
months) regardless of primary tumor stage. By multivariate analysis, the
presence of BMM was an independent predictor of disease. Conclusions: The
presence of bone marrow micrometastases predicts a significantly higher risk of
metastatic disease in lung cancer patients. Reviewer's Comments: This is a
small experience, but it corroborates similar findings in breast and colorectal
cancer patients. Larger confirmatory studies (which should also evaluate
the practicality and cost of this test) are needed before this method can be
used clinically. (Reviewer-John H. Donohue, MD).
Additional Keywords: bone
cancer chest lung lungs marrow metastases
Reprints: Department of
Pathology, USC School of Medicine; 2011 Zonal Ave, HMR 204; Los Angeles, CA
90033 (Richard J. Cote, MD).
I
hope that I have helped somewhat.. If you learn anymore about the blood test..
please email it to me at Blessu@worldnet.att.net
>I have heard that a blood test referred to
as cyfra21-1 could detect >recurring lung cancers. I have had state
1 non small cell lung cancer, >had a lobectomy performed and have been
cancer free almost three years. >I am interested in learning about any
blood tests or other tests such as >PET tests that can detect recurring
tumors. If anyone has information >about these or other tests,
p;ease e-mail me at jtpat1@monmouth.com. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >This
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