I was coping well till after the radiotherapy. I have been diagnosed with four suspect areas following a pet scan earlier this year. One of the areas in the lung as been treated with high dose Sabr resulting in in worsened cough and lung pains. I now have to wait while they decide if I can have surgery on the other diagnosed area which is adenocarcenoma per biopsy. has anyone any suggestions for pain control of lung area, in the mean time. ? any suggestions might be able to put forward to Drs . Thanks in anticipation.
Hi, I had SABR treatment to a left upper adenocarcinoma lung lesion last year, I had eight sessions every other day, last session 15 December 2023. I was told there are late onset side effects, which can come months after treatment. I was fine throughout the sessions, except for being more tired and lack of appetite, however, in the past couple of months I have had chest pains. I find if I carry a weight, i.e. shopping on the left side I get this pain, but Ibuprofen clears it up.
Subsequent CT follow up scans have shown a lot of inflammation in the area around the lesion, which, as my Oncologist told me, is expected with radiotherapy. I also have tenderness in the ribs adjacent to the where the radiotherapy was targeted. Adenocarcinomas in the lung tend to be on the periphery of the lung and near to the chest wall, hence ribs are involved. Radiotherapy can thin ribs, sometimes a fracture can occur - these side effects are all documented in the SABR side effect advice booklet that is usually given to patients before treatment starts. My lung lesion was very close to the sternum, which meant I had slight "throat burn" with eating solid food soon after treatment, but that quickly subsided.
Another side effect I have is a dry itchy throat cough, it comes and goes and lasts for about one to two minutes of harsh coughing which makes my eyes water and sets off my gag reflex, but a few sips of water settles it.
I also had the old radiotherapy 34 year's ago for a stage 2 breast cancer with spread to axillary lymph nodes on the right side. SABR did not exist then, so my treatment was every day for six weeks, the last three days of treatment consisted of intense treatment, whereby the machine was literally placed directly onto my breast and turned on, then placed directly on to my axilla and repeated. Suffice to say it was quite brutal. I was young (40) then and bounced back quite quickly, but was left with long term side effects. I have a small area in my right lower lung which consists of fibrous tissue, a direct result of the breast radiotherapy, but thankfully, due to recent CT scans, the fibrous tissue in my right lung has not changed in size at all - fibrous tissue in the lung can sometimes be serious.
I just thought I would try and reassure you that the pain is quite common after radiotherapy - if it is anything more your follow up CT scan will pick it up. I have had two follow up CT scans since my treatment ended and both have been very reassuring and positive.
Best wishes.
Ann
Hi, Just following on from my last reply. I did not see your reply to Suey16 before I wrote my last reply.
If the pain is constant and worse on deep inhalation, this needs to be investigated. My chest pains I mentioned earlier does not happen on deep inhalation.
In the side effects mentioned for SABR, one side effect is rare, but can happen, and that is "radiation pneumonitis", this is a different side effect than the usual mild inflammation in the lung and can get progressively worse over time.
My advice would be to ring your cancer nurse specialist ASAP and tell them about it, they can get you back in so oncology/radiology can investigate further. Hopefully everything will be fine.
Ann
