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Chest CT Scan
Quick question – I have been diagnosed with CIS and one doctor has said it is standard to have a chest CT scan for staging, to make sure the CIS hasn’t metastasized. Yet, another doctor has not mentioned this.
Did you have a chest CT scan for this reason at the start of treatment?
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4 Replies
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CIS is still in epithelial T1 (T0 region) and has not progressed to connective tissue (T1). Because in the T0 area, there are no lymphatic vessels through which cancer cells can escape to other organs including lymph nodes or lungs, so theoretically I do no think CT Urogram isn’t really required to check if it is metastasized to the lung. On the other hand, CT Urogram also checks upper tracks (kidney and ureters)m urethra which cystoscopy does not check. Also, CIS is not invasive but known to be unpredictable that it can progress to T1 and muscle area (T2) without treatment, so I think it is worthwhile to do CT scan at this early stage.
Recently, my urologist ordered a CT Urogram even though I have been cancer free for 7 years after I was diagnosed with TaHG. Initially, I had CT Urogram when I had seen gross hematuria, which led to the finding of a tumor of 2 cm x 1.5 cm. My tumor was TaHG and the urologist chose just surveillance, which I do now once a year. I had another CT Urogram a few years ago. I asked him why I had to have a CT scan and the urologist said something like he ordered a CT scan sometimes. The CT found a 2mm kidney stone in my left kidney. When he requested a CT scan, my GP did not see the need and I did not see the need for it, but I did it not because I did not ask why I had to do it again. Actually, I wanted to do it because I wanted to find out if there was any change in the status of the kidney stone, which turned out to be the same and I was experiencing some pain in the lower back on and off. Also, because I was coughing for several months and the previous CT found a small nodule in my lung, which had been determined to be non-malignant as it did not grow in size. CT found some inflammation in my bronchitis, which the radiologist suspected due to chronic asthma, which I have. I will take the information to my lung specialist at our next meeting.
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It was so long ago! I think it was mainly the urinary tract. Xray is probably all that is needed on a chest question (I am not a doctor for whatever that is worth), and bladder cancer probably doesn’t warrant that test.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.
I had the Urogram CT (Abdomen and Pelvis) are you saying you had chest also?
Ct scan for the whole torso is common and standard. More to check the urinary tract, including the kidneys.
DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.Sign In to reply.