I had many surgeries the other day for lung cancer, and I was impressed by one of them. The patient, a 67-year-old man who has just retired, told him at the clinic that he had been coughing, coughing up sputum and other symptoms since last year, and that there was blood in the phlegm.
After I made a diagnosis, I found that it was a central lung cancer in the upper right lung, which was nearly 4 centimeters larger, and there was metastasis and swelling of the hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes.
After the biopsy, he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, so I gave him chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and after three courses of treatment, the tumor changed from more than 4 centimeters to only 1 centimeter now.
After such treatment, the tumor was significantly reduced, the patient's physical condition improved significantly, he said that he did not cough, did not vomit blood, was much more comfortable, and weighed 3 pounds.
After the patient's tumor was reduced, we arranged surgery for him, and the tumor was shrunk and the operation was much easier to do, so the operation began at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the duration was more than one hour.
Perhaps many people will think that lung cancer is equivalent to terminal illness, once diagnosed means death, but I want to tell you through such a case, in fact, lung cancer can be treated with drugs, and then after surgery, it is very likely to be cured, even if it is not cured, it can greatly prolong survival.
Since cancer is not a "death sentence", what factors affect the survival of cancer patients?
These 4 points are the main factors affecting the survival of lung cancer patients, and we should pay attention to them
1. Types and stages of lung cancer
The severity of lung cancer directly determines how long a patient's survival is. At present, lung cancer is mainly divided into small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, and we should know that the survival period of small cell lung cancer is much lower than that of non-small cell lung cancer.
Small cell lung cancer: According to the severity of the disease, it can be divided into localized small cell lung cancer and widespread small cell lung cancer.
Among them, the two-year survival chance of localized small cell lung cancer is high and close to 40%; the other is widespread small cell lung cancer, which after professional treatment, the survival cycle is usually one year.
Non-small cell carcinoma: The survival period is longer than that of small cell lung cancer, but it is also necessary to judge the survival chances of the patient according to the stage of development.
In one of the patients, the chance of survival within five years is quite high, at least more than 80%. Stage III patients have a relatively small chance of survival, with a five-year survival rate of close to 30 percent.
2. The patient's own physical condition
Patients with lung cancer, whether they can withstand chemotherapy, or what kind of treatment plan to use, are determined according to the patient's constitution.
There is no doubt that the patient's physique is good enough, the treatment difficulty is low, and the prognosis recovery speed will be faster, so such patients have a longer survival period.
3. There is also the psychological state of the patient
A positive and good attitude can improve the immune function of the patient. If it is a negative state of mind, it will reduce the patient's own immunity, which will affect the patient's prognosis.
4. Metastasis site of lung cancer
This is partly for patients with advanced lung cancer, with only one metastase surviving longer than those with widespread spread. From my clinical experience, adrenal metastases, especially the adrenal glands on the same side of the tumor, have a better prognosis and treatment than other sites.
Lung cancer has become the "first cancer" in the mainland, and data released by the National Cancer Center shows that the number of new cases of lung cancer in China reaches 781,000 every year, and the number of deaths is 626,000. Among all cancers, lung cancer incidence and mortality rank first.
It is precisely because lung cancer makes people feel so terrible, so "how to prolong the life cycle of patients with advanced lung cancer" is a particularly important topic and is one of the most frequently asked questions by many thoracic surgeons.
The key to prolonging the survival of patients with advanced lung cancer is this treatment
There are many ways to treat lung cancer, but the classic treatment of lung cancer has three pillars and three cornerstones.
1. Surgical resection;
2. Chemotherapy drugs;
3, radiation therapy, is the people often say radiation therapy, electrotherapy.
Chemotherapy is key to treating advanced lung cancer:
For the treatment of patients with advanced lung cancer, chemotherapy is usually used, which is commonly known as chemotherapy, and the principle is to use chemotherapy drugs to inject them into the body to kill cancer cells and control their growth.
Chemotherapy is a common treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer:
Advanced lung cancer means that the tumor cells have spread and metastasized. Cancer cells have spread through blood vessels and lymphatic vessels to various parts of the body.
Therefore, surgery and radiation therapy can only remove local lesions, and cannot remove the spreading lesions at the same time. So use drugs to get into the blood vessels, bloodstream, and various parts of the body to kill the tumor.
At present, the treatment of advanced lung cancer drugs: there are mainly chemotherapy drugs, immunotherapy drugs, targeted therapy drugs, anti-angiogenesis drugs, four major drugs, according to the characteristics of the tumor, genetic status to choose different drugs.
And in the past 20 years, many new methods and drugs have emerged, such as revolutionary targeted therapy drugs, immunotherapy drugs and so on. A lot of drugs are constantly emerging, so there are more and more treatments for lung cancer.