how accurate are chest X-rays in determining lung cancer? - Cancer: Lung Message Board

gynks · 04-30-2006, 04:42 PM

Just had one done and the doc said it looked fine. My problem is I have been having pains in my chest area going on 3 months now. Somedays are worse than others. It is usually associated with movement or sneezing or if i cough, does this sound like lung cancer induced chest pain?

DaveInVA · 04-30-2006, 05:36 PM

Regular chest xrays can miss the cancer, especially if its hidden behind bone or other structures. I also had chronic chest pain that had been attributed to stress but I had a CT scan for something totally unrelated and they found a baseball size mass that turned out to be cancer in my right lung. That doesn't mean its going to be the same in your case but you might want to talk to your doc about getting a CT scan if they find no other cause for your chest pain.

Dave

Grand Rapids · 04-30-2006, 05:55 PM

Dave's right on. Chest x rays are not very reliable. You should ask the doc for a CT scan. That said, not all chest pain means lung cancer nor are all chest nodules or masses lung cancer. I have two nodules the docs at first thought were cancer, but it turns out they probably are not. (based on a PET scan and a positiveblood test for a fungal infection.

Point is, like Dave said, don't rely on an x ray. It's like trying to use a foggy magnifying glass to find the splinter in your hand. Sometimes you will and sometimes you won't.

Tom

gynks · 05-03-2006, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveInVA

Regular chest xrays can miss the cancer, especially if its hidden behind bone or other structures. I also had chronic chest pain that had been attributed to stress but I had a CT scan for something totally unrelated and they found a baseball size mass that turned out to be cancer in my right lung. That doesn't mean its going to be the same in your case but you might want to talk to your doc about getting a CT scan if they find no other cause for your chest pain.

Dave

Was your chest pain constant or did it come and go? Did it hurt with movements or doing pushups or something like that? What did your pain feel like?

DaveInVA · 05-04-2006, 07:41 AM

The pain came and went but was chronic for years and the docs told me it was stress. They had me on many different pain meds and muscle relaxants etc but none helped much. One doc told me it was arthritis. Sometimes the pain would start or increase during certain movements and it did change if you pressed on the area. If felt like a deep muscle/skeletal pain. As the tumor was baseball size the pain was really being caused by it compressing and smashing the surrounding lung tissue into the chest wall. Some of the tissue was necrotic(sp?) and thats what was causing the chronic bronchitis I also had, which had been blamed on dust and mold/mildew from old houses I like to work on.

Dave