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I have a mystery disease. Turns out it wasn't Valley Fever. The interventional radiologists at Stanford will be doing a biopsy once I'm on a vent, paralyzed and hopefully out of it. The vent and paralysis are crucial since I can't move at all during the procedure. I do cough a lot with this mystery disease and their plan is to go directly through the skin with a needle and into my lung. I'm told some percentage of patients get pneumothorax (collapsed lung).
Is this a routine procedure or should I be concerned?
I have a mystery disease. Turns out it wasn't Valley Fever. The interventional radiologists at Stanford will be doing a biopsy once I'm on a vent, paralyzed and hopefully out of it. The vent and paralysis are crucial since I can't move at all during the procedure. I do cough a lot with this mystery disease and their plan is to go directly through the skin with a needle and into my lung. I'm told some percentage of patients get pneumothorax (collapsed lung).
Is this a routine procedure or should I be concerned?
Thanks.
I have no personal knowledge; however, here's a 2020 article at the NIH that discusses the risks:
"Pneumothorax rates in CT-Guided lung biopsies: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors"
^^^ That paper presents the data in a confusing way...As near as i can tell, a small pneumothorax developes in 1/3rd of pts when a "skinny needle" is used, but only about 3% (or is it 10%?) of all pts need a chest tube to correct it.
Fluffy- you should probably be more concerned about the diagnosis than the procedure. Best of luck to you.
Well, Guido, that’s a good point. I try not to think about the scary possibilities because there’s nothing I can do about them. But senior physicians from Stanford and Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation are putting their heads together. Right now they’ve got me on IV antibiotics and they’re telling me the whatever-it-is in my upper left lobe is improved from the scan 9 days ago.
I'm being discharged from Stanford Hospital today. The lung team (five of 'em) came in to discuss the possibility that the gunk in my lung is ABPA (Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis) and my illness was caused by an allergic reaction. Having bronchiectasis doesn't help.
Great news, the bronchoscopy has been cancelled! Whew!
Ladies, if you had a team of five doctors come into your hospital room, would you have -- innocently, of course -- lusted after one of them? I had trouble choosing.
Good to know about NUCALA (mepolizumab). I did test with a high level of eosinophils. I was dx'd with eosinophilic asthma years ago and my allergist wanted to put me on FASENRA but for some reason I didn't qualify.
This makes sense, though: "Patients with eosinophilic asthma frequently suffer from chronic sinus disease and nasal polyposis." I had functional endoscopic sinus surgery to remove nasal polyps scheduled for this week but had to call it off.
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