Home after Biopsy

[Aylasnan]

Thank goodness that's over.

Had the CT guided biopsy of my lung nodules yesterday. A lot more pain than I'd anticipated. Don't want to go through that again! Had a small amount of air in lung which I think think caused the discomfort. All okay now though. I think they took around 6 biopsies which seems strange. Maybe they couldn't get a good enough sample although nurse said the samples would be sent to different places. Will hear from them Friday with an appointment for next week to discuss results at last.

[Birdie]

Thank goodness that's over.

Had the CT guided biopsy of my lung nodules yesterday. A lot more pain than I'd anticipated. Don't want to go through that again! Had a small amount of air in lung which I think think caused the discomfort. All okay now though. I think they took around 6 biopsies which seems strange. Maybe they couldn't get a good enough sample although nurse said the samples would be sent to different places. Will hear from them Friday with an appointment for next week to discuss results at last.

You were awake? They put me out like a lite. Maybe they were tired of my lame jokes. Multiple tissue samples is to make certain they get enough (and from different places) to identify the cause of the nodules. Granuloma may not be evident in all of the samples. Sending to different places is a good thing. Labs specialize so they're likely sending to different labs for specific tests.

So.... are ya doing any better?

[Aylasnan]

Yes thank you :) Happy to be home and left in peace. Have been looking forward to your reply xx

[Birdie]

Have been looking forward to your reply xx

Happy to have a positive impact on someone. :)

[Jaha]

I'm glad you are thru with that step. I agree those needle biopsies are very pain and one that you don't want to have again. I wish you all the best. Take care of yourself.

[Hannah]

Glad you're home. I had a kidney biopsy and liver biopsy last year. For me, the tests have been worse than the disease! Good luck.

[drz]

I might be the exception but I found my kidney biopsy easy and slept through most of it. My nephrologist at the time commented that was rather unusual. I also found the lung probe fascinating as they let me watch on the TV screen as they explored my lungs. I think it is interesting to see what you look like on the inside.

From my experience biopsies are nothing to fear. My level of discomfort was about the same as routine dental work and much less than when they inserted the second PIC line for blood withdrawals and IV's.

A Biopsy is still the gold standard for diagnosis of Wegs and many other things. Success tends to be highest in kidney biopsies since Wegs usually is present in the whole kidney, next highest success is in lungs if they hit an area where there is active Wegs, and lowest in nasal area since it seems harder to find an active area. Other biopsy areas can be successful too if it appears Wegs is clearly active somewhere else in your body.

[Birdie]

Other biopsy areas can be successful too if it appears Wegs is clearly active somewhere else in your body.

They got granuloma in tissue from my gums, and in lung nodules a week later. What I was told is that this particular tissue abnormality can only be caused by one of two conditions. Combined with c-ANCA the diagnosis is 100%. Several doctors didn't like that it was such a classic case, they kept doubting the diagnosis and looking for other causes claiming Wegeners is never so easy to spot.

[txrepub4God]

Other biopsy areas can be successful too if it appears Wegs is clearly active somewhere else in your body.

For some reason, the biopsy they chose to do on me was a sural nerve biopsy on my right ankle. I think they suspected vasculitic neuropathy, and maybe that was the easiest biopsy to handle? I have had 2 biopsies previously many years ago for another kidney disease, so I can see why they didn't biopsy there. I did have lung involvement with ground-glass nodules & scarring, but maybe they could tell it wasn't enough to biopsy? Who knows - I know the sural nerve biopsy double-confirmed the WG diagnosis, the first being the C-Anca & very high Anti-PR3.

[Birdie]

For some reason, the biopsy they chose to do on me was a sural nerve biopsy on my right ankle.

First it's BookNut and now you have me looking stuff up. Been a hard night.

"sural nerve" eh?

What an odd thing to biopsy and find granuloma. But then again WG can cause granuloma anywhere but hair, finger nails or toe nails, maybe not in teeth either. I think the rust on my back bumper is prednisone induced.

[txrepub4God]

I did research on it before my biopsy, too, & it's not even that great a diagnostic indicator for Wegs....it has a pretty high "false negative" rate (not showing Wegs when it is there). I think I was just so thankful after 2 years of begging that I'd found specialists willing to test me for everything & actually do something about my illnesses, that I didn't question too much why they were doing a biopsy THERE. I was exhausted & terribly ill at this point - the specialists at UT Southwestern in Dallas saved my life.

I think I will email my lung doc who ordered that biopsy & ask, "Why biopsy there?", just to see what he says. Heck, I don't sleep either, might as well do it now. :)


First it's BookNut and now you have me looking stuff up. Been a hard night.

"sural nerve" eh?

What an odd thing to biopsy and find granuloma. But then again WG can cause granuloma anywhere but hair, finger nails or toe nails, maybe not in teeth either. I think the rust on my back bumper is prednisone induced.

[me2]

"sural nerve" eh?

What an odd thing to biopsy and find granuloma.

Where WG will present or find itself is a numbers game. Useful, but not the end all. I read about a case one time where WG presented as a prostate problem. Not at all one of the 'usual' places.
I thought 'That man must have one brilliant doc to have figured that out. Many of us have had WG present in the USUAL places and still had a devil of a time getting a diagnosis. "

[txrepub4God]

I don't find a ton of literature supporting a biopsy of the sural nerve for WG, but this website lists it and it's a fairly good site. LOL :) I guess the mononeuritis multiplex that I had already been diagnosed with led them along the path of me already having vasculitic neuropathy, so maybe they thought this would be a good site (and least invasive) to test on me.

http://www.hopkinsvasculitis.org/vasculitis/diagnosing-vasculitis/#sural

At that point, I was just thrilled to have doctors that were testing me for anything.

Teri


"sural nerve" eh?

What an odd thing to biopsy and find granuloma.

Where WG will present or find itself is a numbers game. Useful, but not the end all. I read about a case one time where WG presented as a prostate problem. Not at all one of the 'usual' places.
I thought 'That man must have one brilliant doc to have figured that out. Many of us have had WG present in the USUAL places and still had a devil of a time getting a diagnosis. "