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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Recurring Pneumonia In Cancer Patient?

My Sister has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer...She has undergone rigorous chemo over the last 4 months and now the latest scan shows the cancer is dormant....However, she has pneumonia and has had severe runs the last couple of days....She was released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago with the pneumonia and now has it again.....In a different hospital now...Should they be checking the pancreas?
posted on Mon, 15 Jun 2015
Twitter Fri, 24 Jul 2015 Answered on
Twitter Fri, 24 Jul 2015 Last reviewed on
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Pulmonologist,  's  Response
Thanks for your question on Health Care Magic.
I can understand your sister's situation and problem.
I don't think they are checking pancreas. They might be checking for atypical or fungal infection.
Cancer patients are usually immunosuppressive. And chemotherapy further decrease the immunity.
So possibility of infection is much higher in cancer patients. Not only infection, possibility of atypical infection like fungal, parasitic, tuberculosis, atypical bacterias etc is more in cancer patients.
So to prevent recurrent pneumonia, we should get done bronchoscopy and BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) culture to identify the organism.
Sensitivity report is also needed to guide the effective antibiotic therapy.
So she is mostly transferred to other hospital for further investigation like bronchoscopy and BAL analysis.
Hope I have solved your query.
Wishing good health to your sister. Thanks.
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What Causes Recurring Pneumonia In Cancer Patient?

Thanks for your question on Health Care Magic. I can understand your sister s situation and problem. I don t think they are checking pancreas. They might be checking for atypical or fungal infection. Cancer patients are usually immunosuppressive. And chemotherapy further decrease the immunity. So possibility of infection is much higher in cancer patients. Not only infection, possibility of atypical infection like fungal, parasitic, tuberculosis, atypical bacterias etc is more in cancer patients. So to prevent recurrent pneumonia, we should get done bronchoscopy and BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage) culture to identify the organism. Sensitivity report is also needed to guide the effective antibiotic therapy. So she is mostly transferred to other hospital for further investigation like bronchoscopy and BAL analysis. Hope I have solved your query. Wishing good health to your sister. Thanks.