Hi all,
My husband was found to have ‘mild to moderate centrilobular emphysematous changes’ on ct last fall.
It took until December to get to see a pulmonologist, but when he did the news was very reassuring. He said there’s no clinical evidence of disease and even though he has emphysema on an image that doesn’t really correlate with a clinical situation. He said that as long as he never smokes again he shouldn’t need a pulmonologist. I’m extremely grateful and glad about that. I don’t want my worry to make it sound like I’m not. But, he’s in very good health and I would have been surprised to hear that he had obstruction.
That said, my concern is the overwhelming added risk of lung cancer that comes with cle. I have been reviewing mortality studies on copd and finding that as much as 33% of the participants who died during these studies died from lung cancer.( not Dr Google- pub med, nih, etc peer reviewed studies) Now, my mind translates that into thinking that it should project into a cumulative risk of lung cancer in copd of 33%, but I also know from similar studies that CLE carries a greater risk of cancer than COPD alone, or even PE. Given that- it seems like it becomes almost certain that he’s going to end up with lung cancer at some point.
I’ve gone to therapy trying to cope with this and I’ve driven everyone else nuts with my worry, so I’m back to here hoping you folks might have some insight as to whether I’m blowing this all out of proportion.
Has anyone’s doctor ever suggested such a high risk? It seems to me like CLE is a precursor to cancer, and I can’t even think about the future because it’s like a dark cloud hanging over our lives.
I would appreciate any ray of hope if you have one. If not, plain straight talk is ok too.