• female
• 67 Years
• 07/02/2025

Question

I'm really worried and just looking for some clarity here. My mom, who's 67 and used to smoke but quit for years, had a bad case of COVID-19 with pneumonia early in 2021. After recovering, her CT scans showed a ground glass opacity, and later a Koch's lesion, but they said it was just post-COVID fibrosis and didn't need treatment. She's had a very mild dry cough that lasted for about a year and a half. Recently, in June 2022, we found out through an X-ray and CT scan that she has a 3cm lung mass in the apical segment of her right upper lobe. The scan also showed surrounding interlobular septal thickening, ground glass opacity, and bronchiectatic changes. The biopsy said it's small cell carcinoma, and it showed up as active on the PET scan. I'm really trying to understand if this cancer could have developed because of the post-COVID fibrosis since the mass is around the ground glass opacity, or if they're just unrelated. We're already starting treatment, but I'd really appreciate some insight on whether there's a connection or not.