Lung cancer is a chronic and devastating condition that is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic. Physical manifestations of lung cancer include a chronic cough, trouble breathing, wheezing,...
Metastatic cancer means the cancer has spread beyond its original location to other parts of the body. When this has occurred, primarily with lung cancer, the physician may prescribe the generically-named drug erlotinib to help treat it,...
Tarceva is a brand name prescription medication containing the drug erlotinib. It is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients who have been treated in the past with other...
Pancreatic cancer, also called exocrine cancer, is a disease in which cancer cells are found in the pancreas tissue, according to the National Cancer Institute. The pancreas is an organ located between the stomach and spine. It's responsible for...
Lung disease can take several forms. The most common diseases fall into three categories: lung infection, such as pneumonia; lung cancer; or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, such as emphysema. When a patient presents with lung symptoms such...
Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, with 86 percent of sufferers dying within five years, according to Cancer Monthly. However, the specific life expectancy turns upon what type of lung cancer a patient has, how advanced the...
Lung cancer is a disease that involves the malignant growth of the cells that make up the air passages inside the lungs. Doctors classify lung cancer as non-small cell and small cell growths depending on the appearance of the tumor cells under a...
Lung cancer is often subdivided according to the size of cancer cells. The two categories are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer cases in the United...
Stage IV lung cancer is cancer of the lung that has spread to other organs in the body. Stage IV lung cancer is a lethal disease. Roughly 2 percent of lung cancer patients survive more than five years after diagnosis, according to the...
Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, and Tarceva is one of these drugs. Tarceva is the brand name for the generic drug erlotinib and was approved for use in 2004. It can be used to treat different kinds of cancers and comes...
Cancer in the lungs actually affects more people than most of other cancers. The Mayo Clinic states it is the biggest producer of cancer deaths each year in the United States and affects both women and men. Smoking is one of the primary causes of...
Physicians prescribe Tarceva (erlotinib) as a chemotherapy medication to treat lung cancer and advanced pancreatic cancer. Tarceva slows cancer cell growth and the spread of cancer through the body. The medication is specifically chosen for...
Tarceva, generically known as erlotinib, is a chemotherapy drug that doctors use during targeted therapy when treating locally advanced lung cancer or lung cancer that has spread to other areas of the body, and has not responded to at least one...
The bronchus describes the tubes which direct air into and out of the rest of the lungs. Because cells in the bronchus have exposure to airborne toxins, many cases of lung cancer begin in the tissue of the bronchus. Carcinomas of the bronchus can...
Lung cancer, the most common cancer in the world, the Merck Manual states, has a poor prognosis, with 15 percent of patients surviving five years even with treatment. Smoking causes 85 percent of cases of lung cancer, according to the Merck...
Lung cancer that has spread to other organs is identified as metastatic. Treatment of metastatic lung cancer includes chemotherapy and radiation therapy, according to the book "Clinical Oncology." Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill or to...
The specific type of surgery your oncologist will recommend depends on the stage your lung cancer has reached. Surgery is usually recommended only for large cell lung tumors that are still in stage 1 or 2 of development, meaning they haven't yet...
Lung cancer is the result of cells within the lungs developing genetic mutations that cause them to grow abnormally quickly and to invade other surrounding tissue. Although surgery is often the preferred treatment for cancer of the lower lungs,...
The National Institutes of Heath states that two forms of lung cancer exist: nonsmall cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common form of lung cancer, with symptoms including incessant coughing,...
Diindolylmethane, or DIM, is a phytochemical produced during the digestion of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower. Besides eating these vegetables, you can obtain DIM through supplements. DIM is...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) indicates that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It states that 23.7 percent of people 25 to 44 years old were current smokers in 2008. Cigarettes contain nicotine, the...
Pancreatic cancer, also called pancreatic carcinoma, is a tumor of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ in the abdominal cavity behind the stomach. It makes and releases hormones and enzymes that aid in digestion. In particular, it creates...
The pancreas is an organ located on the left side of the abdomen behind the lower part of the stomach. According to the Mayo Clinic, the pancreas secretes digestive enzymes and insulin, which is a hormone that governs the metabolism of blood...
According to the World Heath Organization (WHO), cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for more than seven million deaths in 2003 worldwide. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) name it the...
Gemcitabine, an antimetabolite (blocks DNA production) chemotherapy agent, and 5-fluorouracil are the standard drugs used to treat pancreatic cancer. They are often used in conjunction with surgical procedures or radiation to eradicate the cancer...
More than 200,000 new cases of lung cancer are typically diagnosed in the United States every year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Lung cancer starts in the lung tissues. There are two main types: non-small cell lung cancer, and small...
There are two basic types of lung cancer, small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Metastatic cancer is lung cancer of either type that has spread beyond the lung of origin to the second lung or distant organs such as the brain,...
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells in the body. A cancer patient generally receives chemotherapy for a specific amount of time, after which the cancer is re-evaluated to determine whether it has been successfully destroyed or whether...
Lung cancer is a major health problem and the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. There are two major types of lung cancer: small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. Chemotherapy is...