Sense check on medical tests on my 87 yo father

[Ilovemyshed]

Just after a sense check.. father has been showing some symptoms which after a CT scan show he has lesions on the brain “likely mets from another cancer”. There is a big lump they’ve found on his chest.

They want to do a biopsy on the lump and MRI on his brain. He is very anti anything invasive or any hospital stay.

He has a number of other health conditions which limit his life to the point he doesn’t like going out, and he is happy at home between his chair and his bed.

Given that these lesions are already affecting his speech, is it the right thing to do to go for more tests, or should we leave well alone and let it take its course, with appropriate care and support from the frailty team?

The suspicion is that he has a cancer, the lesions are secondaries, and the progression with his speech has been quite quick.

I would ask what doing the tests is ultimately for. Is it to plan treatment, which he may not want, or will it help with deciding best pain management and palliative care.

Since he does not want to do invasive tests or have a hospital stay, assuming he is competent (or you have medical PoA and are following his wishes), I'd be going for palliative care and whatever support you can get in place.

I would want to know what they want to achieve by biopsying the lesion. I suspect all it would do would put a name to something. If it were my father I would support his wish for nothing invasive and opt for symptom management/ palliative care.

You are right OP, the most important question to ask when running medical tests is "will this change the patients treatment". Simply knowing something or for "completeness of diagnosis" isn't a good reason. Especially when the test is invasive or unpleasant, in the case of the biopsy.