Lung Cancer

Introduction

Lung cancer was very rare before the spread of smoking and, at least until 1791 with the reports of John Hill, was not considered a major disease entity. It was not until 1819 when it published the characteristics Highlights of lung cancer, a disease that by then it was difficult to distinguish from tuberculosis.

Discussion

 Treatment for early stages of a non-small cell cancer is surgery. Almost 80% of non-small cell cancer can be cured through surgery, depending on the size of the tumor and whether cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. t is now a growing tendency to individualization of treatment according to clinical criteria and molecular biology. For example, it has been found that treatments such as pemetrexed bevazicumab or restrict their effectiveness to a particular histology, such as not flaky. It has also been shown that in patients who have a particular feature that is discussed in the tumor called "EGFR mutation" will have a benefit with a group of drugs already mentioned inhibitors tyrosine kinase, specifically with gefitinib, very chemotherapy than itself.

Evaluation

In modern medicine are three main treatments for lung cancer: surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy. In the treatment of a patient they can be used either separately or in various combinations (combination therapy). The choice of treatment depends on many factors, but the most important of which is the stage of lung cancer and the patient's condition.

Surgical treatment of lung cancer. It consists in the fact that a doctor in the surgery removed all of the elements within the tumor to healthy tissue. Feature of cancer is the fact that it is entirely concentrated in the cancer cell. Delete these cells from the body - means to cure the patient completely. The problem is that in practice make it very difficult, especially if the cancer process is in the final stages. Even if the surgeon had removed 99% of cancer cells, the remaining 1% can be scattered over the wound and cause disease, which can worsen the condition and prognosis of the patient, as if he had received no treatment. Therefore, surgical treatment is often not limited to the affected area of ??the body the cancer cells, and is accompanied by removal of the lymph tract and regional lymph nodes.

With regard to the impact of surgical treatment of lung cancer, the cure can be achieved in 70-80% of patients with stage I disease, 40% - in stage II and 15-20% - in stage III. Most deaths from recurrence and metastasis of lung cancer accounts for the first 2-3 years after surgery. If patients were successfully going through this critical period and a control dynamic observation they do not show the progression of the process, the prognosis is favorable.

Radiation therapy for lung cancer. Is the second most effective treatment for lung cancer. Radiation therapy is the treatment of neoplastic diseases with ionizing radiation. This radiation is produced by special machines that use a radioactive source. The effect of radiation therapy is based on ...