How can lung cancer patients live longer? In fact, one of the most important factors in determining the length of survival is the early or late stage. The earlier the stage, the longer the survival period and the simpler the treatment. On the other hand, it also shows that everyone should be responsible for their own bodies and have regular physical examinations. Compared with other tumors, the lung cancer screening program is simple and convenient to operate, just do a chest CT. In fact, many lung cancers in situ are detected by physical examination every year, including some colleagues. After the operation, these patients are no different from healthy people, and they are directly put into their original work. Many people say that cancer is incurable because it is discovered too late. Even if you are hospitalized repeatedly, seek medical treatment everywhere, and spend a lot of money, sometimes you can only watch the disease develop. The mortality rate of lung cancer in European and American countries is far lower than that in my country, because there are too many patients with advanced lung cancer in my country, which affects the prognosis of the overall population.
In addition, no matter what stage of lung cancer patients, if they want to have a longer survival, they definitely need standardized treatment. Never believe that malignant tumors can be cured without treatment. This is like winning the lottery. The prize is just as far away. The last 20 years are both the 20 years of high incidence of lung cancer in China and the 20 years of rapid technological development. The survival period of lung cancer patients has been continuously prolonged. For lung cancer patients, the first step is to find out what histological type of lung cancer they are, whether it is squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, small cell lung cancer or large cell lung cancer; the second step is to find out whether the lung cancer has spread, that is to say Whether there is metastasis; the third step is to carry out genetic testing, to find out the molecular pathological characteristics of oneself, and to be aware of it. Anti-cancer treatment is like a war for everyone.
In the standard treatment of lung cancer, direct surgery is the first choice for early stage patients, and radical radiotherapy is selected for early stage patients who cannot tolerate surgery. For stage II-III patients, after radical surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy should be combined as postoperative adjuvant therapy. Only comprehensive therapy can improve the survival of lung cancer patients and reduce the probability of tumor recurrence and metastasis. Surgery is only a treatment. first step.
The focus is on patients with advanced stage. Many patients are at a loss when they hear that lung cancer has metastasized to other organs and it has developed into an advanced stage. Some people even give up directly. Compared with other tumors, the alternative treatment for advanced lung cancer is There are many methods, some of which can even achieve long-term survival with tumors after comprehensive treatment. In particular, targeted therapy, which has become more popular now, and immunotherapy, which has been popular in recent years, have brought many advanced lung cancer patients to the light of day and obtained better therapeutic effects. For patients with advanced lung cancer, if conditions permit, we recommend that all patients undergo genetic testing, including the detection of EGFR gene mutations, ALK fusion gene mutations, and ROS1 fusion gene mutations. After all, the gene mutation rate of Asian lung adenocarcinoma patients is very high, exceeding 50%. If there is a gene mutation, oral targeted drugs can prolong the survival time by 2-3 times, and even some advanced lung cancer patients take oral targeted drugs for more than 8-10 times. Years of survival with tumor. There are first-, second-, and third-generation targeted drugs to choose from, and if one is resistant, you can try other types of drugs. Immunotherapy has become even more popular in recent years. It has been written into the NCCN guidelines for advanced lung cancer and has a certain effect on small cell lung cancer with a high degree of malignancy. Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy is used as the first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer without sensitive gene mutations.
Oncology treatment should also be people-oriented. It should not only treat the disease, but also treat the patient. Comprehensively evaluate the patient’s age, physical condition, and economic status, and choose a more individualized treatment. The treatment plan, for end-stage patients, is mainly to reduce pain as much as possible, rather than to pursue longer survival. In many cases, the highest ideal of doctors is not to save lives, but to guide patients and their families to better understand death and disease.