Advanced lung cancer treatments - PAHomePage.com

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) - Breast cancer, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer are all among the deadliest forms of cancer. But each of those trails the number one cancer killer in the world: lung cancer. 
     
The National Cancer Institute reports more than 150,000 Americans die annually of lung cancer. 3 million are currently under treatment for it. But as Eyewitness News Healthbeat Reporter Mark Hiller explains, how you're treated depends on how far along the cancer has progressed.

"About three-quarters of people who are diagnosed with lung cancer come with a late stage lung cancer," said Geisinger Cardiothoracic Surgeon James Klena. So why do most lung cancer patients go without diagnosis until stage 3 or 4? Dr. Klena says it's because most are smokers who, because of their habit, already experience symptoms otherwise linked to lung cancer. "That is a cough, shortness of breath, frequent pneumonias."

Unlike patients with stage 1 or 2 lung cancer, Dr. Klena says surgery is not a viable option for those in late stage. That's often because the cancer has spread beyond the lungs into other parts of the body such as other organs or even bones. But just because late stage lung cancer patients can't have surgery doesn't mean they're out of options. Dr. Klena says, "Most of those patients will start by undergoing chemotherapy and possibly radiation therapy."

The goal of both is to slow down inoperable lung cancer. Treatment can be tailored after that based on a patient's cancer stage and health. Dr. Klena said, "Even for stage four lung cancers now in applicable patients there are good treatments that can make a difference."

Those treatments come in the form of immunotherapy drugs like Keytruda or Opdivo which gained FDA approval in recent years thanks to research revelations. "In the last five years, there have been great improvements in the molecular understanding, genetic understandings of lung cancers," said Dr. Klena. 

Some late stage lung cancer patients can also join a clinical trial. The controlled study gives them an opportunity to test new treatments before they're available to the public. Check with your doctor to see if such a trial is right for you.

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