Question 1

My mom was diagnosed with hepatitis B in November 2016. She had a mastectomy in December 2016 and is now going through chemo FECx3 and DOCEx3, 6 cycles total, with her 3rd cycle coming up next week. The doctors suggested starting hepatitis B treatment alongside the surgery. What kind of treatment or meds would she need, and what's the prognosis looking like?

Accepted Answer

Consultant physician M D Medicine

Question 2

If a cancer has spread to the lungs, liver, and colon, is it still treatable? For someone with CHF, would chemo or other treatments be an option? What's the survival rate in cases like this? If it's advanced, can chemo or surgery actually help, or is it too risky given the CHF? I need a straightforward answer about what to expect in this situation.

Accepted Answer

When cancer has spread to the lungs, liver, and colon (a metastatic situation), it is still treatable, but the outlook is generally less favorable than if the cancer were localized. Chemotherapy and other treatments may still be options, even for someone with CHF, but the decision-making process must be individualized based on the specific cancer type, stage, and the patient's overall health, including the severity of their CHF. Survival rates vary depending on the cancer type, treatment response, and individual factors, with some patients living several years despite metastasis.

Question 3

I'm really worried about my 67-year-old mom, who used to smoke back in her teens but quit ages ago. She had a tough bout with Covid pneumonia in December 2020 and thankfully recovered. Still, a CT scan afterward showed some scattered ground glass opacities in her upper right lung, but they didn't give her any treatment then. She had this dry cough hanging around for over a year, but nothing serious came of it until we did another CT scan after a year and a couple of months. This scan showed a soft tissue mass around 3 cm in her upper right lung with surrounding interlobular septal thickening, ground glass opacities, and bronchiectatic changes. A PET scan said it's metabolically active, and a biopsy showed it's small cell carcinoma. They've started treatment now. I'm just trying to understand, could the post-Covid fibrosis and ground glass opacities have caused this small cell carcinoma? It's really concerning since the lung mass was found surrounded by those ground glass opacities. Any insights would really help me.

Accepted Answer

no covid doesn't cause small cell carcinoma

I'm really worried because my wife has been getting this pain in her breast, more often on the left side. What kind of specialist should we see about this?

I'm sorry to hear about your wife's discomfort. It's best to consult a breast specialist or a general surgeon to evaluate the pain. They can assess her symptoms, conduct necessary tests, and guide her further.

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