Lung Cancer: Later Stage Treatment
Lung Cancer: Later Stage Treatment
There are remarkable new options for managing later stage lung cancer.
What is Stage Four Lung Cancer? In stage four lung cancer, cancer has spread to other regions of the body, which is called metastasis. Stage four is the most advanced cancer stage. Lung cancer is commonly already in stage four when it is first diagnosed. The National Cancer Institute estimates that about 55% of lung or... Read More
Later Stage Treatment: New Approaches
- Changes in cancer cells are called biomarkers and can affect treatment.
- In lung cancer, there are two sets of biomarkers: driver mutations and PDL1.
- Normal cells become cancer cells because of driver mutations. PDL1 on cancer cells stops your immune system from killing them.
Later Stage Treatment: The Importance of Biomarker Testing
- Changes in cancer cells are called biomarkers and can affect treatment.
- In lung cancer, there are two sets of biomarkers: driver mutations and PDL1.
- Normal cells become cancer cells because of driver mutations. PDL1 on cancer cells stops your immune system from killing them.
- Immunotherapy helps your immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells
- The drugs tend to work better in patients who have a higher level of a protein called PD-L1
- The drugs were initially approved only for advanced disease, but recent studies have shown promising results for treating certain types of stage II and stage III lung cancer as well
Later Stage Treatment: Immunotherapy
- Immunotherapy helps your immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells
- The drugs tend to work better in patients who have a higher level of a protein called PD-L1
- The drugs were initially approved only for advanced disease, but recent studies have shown promising results for treating certain types of stage II and stage III lung cancer as well
Later Stage Treatment: Targeted Therapy
An Immunotherapy Revolution
SurvivorNetTV film, Breakthrough, tells the powerful and inspiring story of immunologist and 2018 Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Jim Allison. He is the Chair of the Department of Immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and his groundbreaking work in immunotherapy has led to a reduction in the number of cancer-related deaths.... Read More
Later Stage Treatment: Clinical Trials
One treatment option for lung cancer may be a pneumonectomy, which is surgery to remove a lung. Because this can permanently reduce your breathing capacity, most surgeons usually try to choose a less extreme form of surgery or they may consider chemotherapy or radiation therapy first. This procedure can be very risky.... Read More