My mom has lung infiltrates and the pulomonary specialist says it is a disease. He wants to open her lungs up.. What does this mean?
2007-02-06 07:50:16 · 5 answers · asked by Toothie 2 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Respiratory Diseases
Toothie I'm sorry your mom is ill but your question really does not have enough information about the "infiltrates". You really need to have the pulmonary specialist sit down with you and your family and make sure he has her xrays and cat scans that he is using to document the "infiltrates" and have him SHOW you the infiltrates and explain what caused them, how he can get rid of them and what BENEFIT surgery would be for her. Just cutting her open because she has lung infiltrates does not make sense to me at all. I have lung nodules- which sounds pretty serious, but it isn't - it is the residual from have pneumonia 2 years ago-- I never smoked, and I give you this example so you can understand what could and could not be a serious problem. DO NOT allow anyone to operate on your mom without your family a thorough understanding of 1. why they are operating -versus regular medical care. 2. what benefits the operation will be to her. 3. what are the risk factors of the operation- could they make her condition worse by operating (which IS the case if it is cancer) and 4. I ALWAYS ask a surgeon or doctor this- "if she were YOUR mother, would you treat her the same way for this illness? would you operate on your mother? If you see ANY hesitation on the 4th question- do not consent to the surgery - get your mom a second opinion from another lung specialist. If you even see him shift his eyes after you ask that question, he is going to lie to you- shifting eyesight is a telltale sign of a lie and unfortunately, everyone does lie from time to time.
If your mom was a smoker for many years, she can have a lot of infiltrates but they can also biopsy--- which means they just stick a needle into the area in question in her lung and pull out a piece of tissue and they can tell if it is cancerous or not. Ask if they have done this procedure and if it was positive. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS-- THEY HAVE TO ANSWER YOU AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR FAMILY THERE TO HERE THE ANSWERS- BRING A NOTEBOOK BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIME THEY TALK SO FAST BECAUSE IT IS SO "ROUTINE" FOR THEM, THAT YOU ONLY COMPREHEND EVERY OTHER WORD THEY SAY--- IF HE STILL USES BIG WORDS THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND- STOP HIM AND ASK HIM TO EXPLAIN IT BETTER IN LAYMAN'S TERMS- WHICH MEANS TO A PERSON WHO DOES NOT HAVE A MEDICAL BACKGROUND TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HE IS SAYING....IF HE TELLS YOU IT IS CANCEROUS TISSUE AND THAT HE DID DO A BIOPSY AND THAT IS WHAT IT SHOWS- STILL GET ANOTHER OPINION- HAVE A CANCER SPECIALIST EVALUATE HER BEFORE HE OPERATES ON HER!!!! This is very important because depending on how far the cancer may have spread, it might not be in her best interest to "open her up" - they do chemotherapy and radiation therapy to shrink the cancer cells in a closed- or in the lung, environment- this keeps the cancer from being exposed to other tissue to make it spread throughout her. Good luck to you, and if you do get the answers from the doctor and still need more answers, I am always online every day usually 24/7........please, ask the questions, write them down, even have her regular family doctor explain them to you, get his opinion and then you may want to take her to a cancer center if it is cancerous......
2007-02-06 08:08:13 · answer #1 · answered by mac 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Lung infiltrates usually means that the person has pnuemonia. How do they want to open her lungs up? Probably talking about a bronchoscopy-inserting a bronchoscope into her mouth and into her lungs to have a look and maybe take a biopsy. This is very common in the hospital. Or could be talking about a thoracentesis (removing fluid from her lungs by inserting a needle and withdrawin the excess fluid that has built up.Prognosis should be good as long as she is healthy otherwise. If she is smoking that would be the most important thing to get her to quit.
2007-02-06 08:21:22 · answer #2 · answered by John H 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Infiltrates can me a lot of things. Often times it means pneumonia (infection of the lungs), but it can me excess fluid or even tumor (rarely). Sound like an infection in this situation. It could be the pulmonologist believes there is something blocking her airways (mucous or pus) that needs to be eliminated so that her lung can re-expand.
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2016-05-24 00:28:16 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
what is is infiltrates
2016-02-19 19:40:20 · answer #5 · answered by Emelly 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋