Rush Limbaugh diagnosed with lung cancer

SottoVoce · 2020-02-04T23:27:22.010Z

Janet_Miller:

CEA Test (Carcinoembryonic Antigen): CEA Cancer Marker Levels

What sort of “screening” is given for lung cancer? The one above? The test first time I saw it on the job 20 odd years ago there was a higher set of normal values for smokers than non smokers.

I’ve really never understood “screenings”. That’s one of my issues with mammograms before menopause—they lead many women to unnecessary redos and further testing like breast ultrasound and biopsy (most breast biopsies don’t have any cancer).

If ultrasound is a better way of getting a look at breast tissue to either bring the patients home until next year or bring’em in for biopsy, why not replace mammograms altogether with ultrasound?

I’m a (Interventional) Radiologist. Ultrasound is not better than mammograms or tomosynthesis for breast cancer screening. For screening exams you have to balance sensitivity (the test is able to detect the majority of cancers) and specificity (the test doesn’t give a lot of false positives). Mammography is the gold standard for breast cancer screening because it is sensitive and relatively specific.

Some have attempted to use ultrasound for primary screening. When used that way, breast cancer screening ultrasounds have an unacceptably high miss rate. They do not detect cancers with any degree of confidence.

There has been a trend for non-qualified physicians or other providers to get ahold of an ultrasound machine and tell people they can give accurate, painless, radiation-free breast cancer screenings which are “better” than mammography. Run the other way. I have seen too many women with advanced breast cancer who were reassured for years that an ultrasound said there was nothing to worry about. (Also read the fine print about how the ultrasounds are not a substitute for mammography.)

Ultrasound is a great tool for further evaluating findings on mammography. Tomosynthesis (3D mammography) has improved the false positive rate of conventional mammography.

Ideally, we’d have a screening test that detects every cancer and is never wrong. We don’t have that in breast cancer or any screening test. We will always have false positives, and the stress on the patient (and physician) as a patient is undergoing diagnosis sucks. However, ultrasound as a screening tool still has the false positives while missing a magnitude higher or more of cancers that are really there.

I’ll get off my soapbox. This is an area pretty close to home.

conan · 2020-02-05T00:53:53.399Z

Ignore em…same ugliness we seen with Ginsburg.

Hey…I love tripping libs and watching them fall flat on their faces but when it comes to cancer…I don’t wish that on anyone. My humor only goes so far.

As for Rush…I see Trump is talking about medal of freedom. And Rush will be attending SOTU tonight.

wiley8425 · 2020-02-05T02:49:27.380Z

I’m not the least bit surprised. My grandmother developed cancer from asbestos. You know back when the government still thought it was safe to use as building material for houses. Just wait a few years until we find out about the damage from all the “safe” stuff around us today.

PurpnGold · 2020-02-05T04:48:43.232Z

Cancer sucks… have a lot of it in my family.

I wish he didn’t use his platform to make fun of other people’s diseases (Michael J Fox/RBG) however. I hope this humbled him.

Ceasar · 2020-02-05T05:29:30.717Z

WolfyT:

He was famously in Cigar Aficionado Magazine way back in 1994.

You don’t inhale cigars

zonulet · 2020-02-05T06:33:57.987Z

Rodeo:

I’ve listened to Mr. Limbaugh for years, had the radio on through my phone yesterday at a late lunch when he made his announcement. It was a stunning moment.

I really want to compliment everyone on this forum, it’s wonderful to see everyone coming together to wish him well. Thank you.

I looked at the FoxNews site last night and multiple just vicious comments came with the reporting. Sad.

I’ve never listened to him. I may try to find a few shows for replay.

Cynic · 2020-02-05T06:40:28.100Z

You do indirectly.

WildRose · 2020-02-05T07:04:27.894Z

Sadly there’s not much chance he’ll be with us much longer but man, what a legacy to take with you to the grave.

Few people will ever made even a significant impact locally, Rush changed an entire nation and lead a conservative revival that will live far beyond himself.

He absolutely changed the nature of radio forever and inspired hundreds of millions of people spanning at least three or four generations.

I wish him the best for whatever time he has left here and he can go into the afterlife knowing he made his mark like few men before or since ever will.

JayJay · 2020-02-05T12:30:49.446Z

I wonder what my risk is.

I only ever smoked briefly. In college.

But I lived my first 18 years with parents who smoked 2+ packs a day. Years after they quit the house still smelled of cigarette smoke.

Lost my mom to lung cancer and my dad partly because of his emphysema.

Borgia_dude · 2020-02-05T13:03:35.837Z

My sympathies to Rush and his family. Hope he beats the odds. Regardless of politics, we are all human and are lived by others.

Hoping he will not, as Rush himself says, assume room temperature.

highroller · 2020-02-05T13:05:31.918Z

Why stop there? Cut it all.

Ceasar · 2020-02-05T13:17:25.003Z

Cynic:

You do indirectly.

Yes that’s true. All tobacco use is detrimental & best avoided.

mwevans1234 · 2020-02-05T13:21:18.307Z

I hear you. My dad is on the way out from COPD. The funny thing is that I didn’t realize until I went to college and came home how much my parents’ house smelled like smoke!

I hope Mr. Limbaugh is able to recover. As others said, he was an industry changer for sure.

Medicswife2002 · 2020-02-05T13:28:55.243Z

This whole topic gives me much to think about. I smoke still and know I need to quit. I usually look away, ugh…

LucyLou · 2020-02-05T13:31:31.871Z

Please try. It’s hard, I know. Aside from lung cancer, so many other health effects.

Medicswife2002 · 2020-02-05T13:42:05.984Z

I tried the gum and managed to only add it to my routine. I finally stopped chewing it and got myself back down to just cigarettes. I tried Chantix and dear Lord that was awful!! It worked to make smoking taste and feel awful but then I got the side effects of vivid nightmares which is a very real thing. I literally threw the rest of the bottle away.

highroller · 2020-02-05T15:16:04.592Z

Hopefully, this diagnosis will cause others to quit. I smoked a lot in my 20s and still do occasionally today, but I think I’ll quit for good.

Cratic3947 · 2020-02-05T16:35:32.594Z

Mega ditto’s since 1988

Just goes to show you can have the best medicine in the world and they still missed an early diagnosis

AngraMainyu · 2020-02-05T18:27:13.672Z

We would have to fight if you did this.
That said, I quit in December '18. Haven’t looked back.

AngraMainyu · 2020-02-05T18:28:46.651Z

Try the juul. It only took me three days after everything else had failed.