History Of Pneumonia. Persistent Cough, Shoulder Pain. Test Shows Shadow. Does This Mean Cancer?

Posted on Fri, 12 Apr 2013

Question: My daughter is 35 and had pnemonia 5 years ago she's had a persistent cough for 8 weeks now and shoulder pain a recent x XXXXXXX shows a small shadow she has never smoked does this mean cancer

Answered by Dr. Dr.Raju.A.T (5 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query.

The cough and the shoulder pain she has could be due to a recurrence of the pneumonia or an effusion from the old pneumonia scars.

If there is no weight loss, loss of appetite or blood in the phlegm then you need not worry as the chances of it being cancer would be less.

Shadow on an Xray not always suggests a cancer; it can also be due to the complications mentioned above. Do get an HRCT (High resolution Computed tomography scan) to identify the exact cause for the symptoms. Also you may have to be placed on antibiotics as the shadow could also be due to pneumonia.

Hope, I answered your query.

Please let me know if there are any other concerns.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar