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From NSCLC BAC to Thyroid Cancer

dre1143
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I was diagnosed in il 2007 w/ NSCLC 1A BAC. I had my upper right lobe removed, with no sign in surrounding nodes. There was a small 2mm nodule in the lower left lobe in a few CT's but my most recent one, they doctors said it was not there. Still concerned of course.
My question is, I found a nodule in my thyroid on my own and after biopsy & another surgery the original nodule was not cancer but pathology found a 1mm malignancy. Does lung cancer spread to the thyroid??? Going in for surgery to have the rest of the thyroid out. Can cancer be in 2 separate parts of the body. Confused

Explore topics in this discussion:

Cancer Surgery Pain Thyroid cancer Lung cancer Stress

3 replies

leehee1

Hi
I am so very sorry to hear about all your stress and surgeries. The short answer to your question is yes - cancer can be in two or even more parts of the body at the same time. In fact people with one kind of cancer are more at risk at developing other kinds of cancer.

It is very unusal for lung cancer to spread to the thyroid. It is probably the case that the cancers are different. Was it 1mm or 1 cm? 1mm is so very very tiny and considered incidental.

I come from the opposite way. I was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer in my right lung - had upper right lobectomy. As part of my work up for other issues - had full endocrine work up and they found a nodule in my thyroid - cancer. One lobe was removed because it was small and then it reoccured (or was there but htey could not find it during surgery) 4 years later and the other lobe of my thyroid was taken out - Sept 08. I have radioactive iodine.

I am now being worked up for an enlarging ground glass nodule in my upper left lobe - difficult place to biopsy. I am at high risk for it being cancer because of my other cancers and an an ex smoker (stopped 03). Will wait til end of July and if any change will have it removed or biopsied. I really do not want any unnecessay surgeries. Also have several other small nodules in my lung.

Good luck - your cancer is so small - really and usually thyroid cancer is slow growing...

Take care
Lee

pattyp1

quick add-on to Lee's excellent answer - in addition to being slow growing, it is very survivable - they usually remove most of it and replace the hormone with daily pills - no chemo is involved - and a two -week recovery time - I had a near miss with it last year and did a lot of research - my mom had thyroid cancer in 1960, had it removed, and is still very much alive and kicking - yeah, it's a pain, but not on a level with LC
wishing you well here
hugs
Pat

Munker

I had same diagnosis as you and had the upper right lobectomy last August. I also had a nodule on my thyroid that was biopsied and found to be benign but I do have to watch it. I was told that these are two separate cancers and there is no connection. Thyroid cancer has a high cure rate and since yours is so small i think you have a good prognosis. God knows I would not want any further surgery but you do what you gotta do.

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