1. What is Advanced Stage Lung Cancer?
If you have been advised by your doctor that your lung cancer has spread to other parts of your body, should you be concerned? It depends on how advanced it really is. It might have spread just to your chest wall and lining of the lung. Or it might have gone all the way into lymph nodes, liver, bones and brain. The type called small cell lung cancer spreads quickly.
2. How Do You Know?
Watch out for lumps in your neck or armpit. Your doctor can figure out if it's due to infection or some cancer brewing. Do you also get pain in your right side, just under your ribs after a meal? Or have yellowish eyes? Your physician might want to check your liver with the help of blood tests and ultrasound. If indeed your lung cancer has reached the bone, watch for pain. An x-ray should reveal if anything is due for a fracture. And if you feel dizzy, drowsy and confused along with headaches, it might be that your brain is reeling under the impact. Make sure to let your doctor know, in all detail, and as much as you can.
3. Is it Possible to Cure Advanced Lung Cancer?
It all depends on how advanced your lung cancer is. It is possible to treat pain in the bone. Cancer that has spread to brain responds well to radiotherapy and medications. Treatment differs depending on whether it is small cell or non-small cell lung cancer, based on size, shape and chemical make-up. According to findings reported in the Mayo Clinical Proceedings in May 2008, surgery remains the single most consistent and successful option for cure in early stages. However, the report explains that "chemotherapy is beneficial for patients with advanced disease, and the administration of simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation is indicated for stage III lung cancer." Even so, you should not be surprised to know that the cure rate is not very high.
4. Is It Possible To Survive Advanced Lung Cancer?
Medications targeting new blood vessel formation and other novel anti-cancer agents are raising new hopes of survival. It is possible that there will be an increase in the number of lung cancer survivors. Until the hopes turn real, it is essential that you try every option available. For example, patients who received bevacizumab in combination with standard chemotherapy for previously untreated advanced non-small cell lung cancer lived longer than patients who received the same chemotherapy without bevacizumab.
5. Can You Prevent Advanced Lung Cancer?
The key to success is to catch the disease early. Advances in science and medicine should see new ways of catching the disease early. For instance, experts at the University of Colorado Cancer Center Department of Medicine and Pathology have come up with a laser-induced fluorescence endoscope (LIFE) bronchoscopy, to pin the disease before it has a chance to spread out of the lung. If you are among the high-risk population, you might want to ask your doctor for screening with such tests if available or at least a scan with computed tomography.
