Late State Lung Cancer Treatments
- Radio host Rush Limbaugh, 69, recently announced his advanced lung cancer has progressed, and will need to tweak his current treatment.
- Treatment for late stage lung cancer can include radiation, immunotherapy, and precision medicine.
- Experts stress that battling late stage cancer is not a death sentence.
Limbaugh, 69, has been battling stage 4 lung cancer since February. This is an advanced form of the disease, and means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body besides the lungs. He recently shared that his disease has progressed despite prior scans saying the disease was being maintained. Limbaugh broke the news during a segment on his program “The Rush Limbaugh” show, and also explained that his current treatment plan will need to be tweaked.
Read MoreLate Stage Lung Cancer: Treatment Options
An advanced cancer diagnosis may sound scary, but it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. Thanks to huge advancements in research, experts are constantly examining how a person’s disease interacts with different types of therapies.
Precision Medicine
A lot of treatment can depend on the characteristics of a patient’s tumor, and whether there are genetic mutations. If a patient holds the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) â which, when overreactive, makes cancer cells grow and divide targeted therapies slow cancer cells from dividing. This is referred to as precision medicine, which can match treatment to the specific tumor and its mutations in order to yield the best results.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy has also made waves in the cancer world. This therapy harnesses the power of someone’s own immune system and encourages the white blood cells to fight the cancer directly. Oftentimes, immunotherapy is combined with other therapies, but there’s actually been good studies to prove immunotherapy might benefit late stage patients by itself.
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According to Dr. Ken Miller, Director of Outpatient Oncology at the University of Maryland, Greenebaum Cancer Center, immunotherapy can work for up to 35% of patients. When it does work, the results are extremely beneficial. “We do know within several months of treatment whether it’s going to work or not,” Dr. Miller says. “When it does work, it may work really, really well. We see the white blood cells essentially going to the sites of tumor and killing cancer cells. So immunotherapy certainly has a role if we find that you have advanced lung cancer, definitely is having a growing role if we find you have stage 3 lung cancer.”
Dr. Ken Miller explains how immunotherapy works in advanced lung cancer
Radiation
Radiation is a common treatment option for many types of cancers, but with lung cancer it can help in two separate ways. First, when a very high-dose of radiation is administered, doctors can attempt to cure the cancer completely. However, if that’s not possible and the disease progresses, radiation can be used as a way to shrink tumors and ease symptoms patients experience. This is commonly referred to as palliative treatment, and in the case of lung cancer radiation can relieve trouble swallowing, coughing and pain.
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“Radiation can be used to shrink down those tumors to help alleviate the side effects or symptoms of that cancer, where a cancer is causing pain, a tumor is pressing on something and blocking something, and the radiation can be used to shrink it,” Dr. Billy Loo, a radiation oncologist at Stanford Health Care, tells SurvivorNet. “However, there are special cases where the spread outside to other parts of the body may be very limited. Maybe it’s to a single area. Some of these patients can be treated more intensively with the attempt to try to eliminate all of the cancer to cure it.”
Chemotherapy and Surgery
Chemotherapy has long-time been regarded as a conventional therapy for treatment, and advanced lung cancer is no different. This treatment is typically administered at the beginning of the process, with the goal of quickly targeting and killing cells. Alongside chemotherapy, surgery is sometimes offered depending on whether it can successful remove the cancer.
No matter the recommended treatment, experts stress that a late stage cancer diagnosis does not mean the end. “Stage 4 is a difficult diagnosis for people to get,” Dr. Raja Flores, Chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery for the Mount Sinai Health System, tells SurvivorNet. “Now, you have to realize stage 4 does not mean death. You can have stage 4s who are alive 8, 9, 10 years later. You have to make sure that they understand it’s not a death sentence. It’s very important to take things step by step.”
Dr. Raja Flores explains treatment options for stage 4 lung cancer
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