cut glass turning into cancer
I am wondering if anyone else has had ground glass in there lungs turning or being connected to lung cancer?
Hi miki, and thanks for your post and question -it's a good one!
Let me try to clarify this for you. You may have misunderstood what the doctor(s) said. It is fairly common for a chest x-ray of the lung to show a 'ground glass' appearance. This 'ground glass' appearance is both distinctive and clear for the doctor(s) who are reading / interpreting the x-rays. The chest x-ray, along with other diagnostic procedures help the doctors to arrive at a definitive diagnosis for each patient.
I would suggest you speak with your doctor(s) again. They will be able to clarify both what they said and what you heard. I am sure you will find there is no actual glass in your lungs but rather, it is the appearance which is being referred to.
What do you think, miki?
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)I should have been more clear in my post. I am aware that there is no glass in my lungs, it is a term only. The DR. has been watching the ground glass for a few years, now I have a spot that they think is a slow growing cancer in that area. I have to have a robotic bronchoscopy in a week. I just wondered if anyone else has gone thru this. thanks Miki
hi! Yes I have heard of the term for many years between family and friends having this type of item happening with their personal types of COPD, none of them had cancer to my knowledge, but then again we are all different. Personally the term was used in my case, once and never again, years passed and I had to have a robotic bronchoscopy to check out what was causing reoccurring pneumonia and lung collapsing, I was positive for cancer... See we are all different. Try not to worry, I know it's hard not to, but keep your mind busy with other things if possible. As for the bronchoscopy, they put you in a "Dream Sleep" so you are sedated enough not to remember much if anything at all, but don't totally knock you out, come home the same day usually. What I do remember is that there was up and down movement (3 times) in my nose at first, numbing it and after that I remember someone toughing my right arm once and then the doctor whispering in my ear that it "was not a peanut", our little joke letting me know it was cancer, not asperation of a food item. My family got the last laugh about a week later for they told me what was all said in the recovery room and I remember -0-, except the little statement. They said I was sitting up, answered the doctors questions and even asked some of my own, doctor showed photos and everything. Man I was bumped for I did not remember seeing the photos and the indise of my lung..... maybe next time.... No pain, no irritation they thought might be there, just extra sleepy all day long. I wish you much luck with your testing and trying to keep yourself occupied until then.. Please update us if you feel like you want too! Doris 
Doris, you made me laugh! This is the first I've heard your "peanut" story. What a great sense of humor and good instincts your doctor had, to treat your experience the same way you were at the time -- lightly, but honestly. You have so many good people around you! Thanks for sharing your bronchoscopy experience -- first hand tales are so important for people who visit here, including many who will never post but I am sure are taking everything in. Be well! -Melissa, copd.net team
miki2364,
I have had a bronchoscopy to get a sample of a nodule (growth in my right upper lung), to get it biopsied. It turned out negative. The procedure itself was nothing as far as I was concerned, because I was out. There was another growth in the middle of my right lung that grew a year later but dissipated on its own. I have never heard the term ground glass in reference to my lungs. I am not sure if I actually answered your question. I hope everything turns out ok for you. Take Care and God Bless!thank you for the info. You can check out ground glass affect on your hospital web sight. It is just a term used to describe a visual appearance in your lungs. There is no glass.
