my father has rectal colon cancer for 3.5 years. he went thru chemo and radiation but cancer was found in the lymph nodes in 2013 and lungs February 2014. recently he has suffered from short of breath and back pain. What treatment is available at this point and what is the prognosis?
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. Since your fathers' cancer has already spread in lymph nodes and lung, I advise you to get done chest x-ray first. The causes for breathlessness in his case are1. Malignant pleural effusion.2. Extensive pulmonary parenchymal involvement due to metastases. So get done chest x-ray and if needed CT THORAX to rule out above causes. Only treatment available is palliative chemotherapy and nutritional support. If malignant pleural effusion is present than pigtail catheter insertion is needed. So better to consult pulmonologist and discuss all these.