Lung Cancer: All you need to know about treatment methods for the chronic condition to reduce …

New Delhi: It wouldn’t be surprising if we could tame the demon of lung cancer in the not so distant future. Timely and proper treatment under the guidance of a qualified medical oncologist is imperative. This will help increase the survival chances of the patients and enhance their quality of life.

Lung cancer is worrisome and can lead to comorbidity and mortality.  Decades of failed clinical trials and persistently dismal survival was something associated with lung cancer in the not so distant past. Before 2010, metastatic lung cancer was like a death sentence. As the field continues to progress forward it seems fitting to reflect back on the evolution of the treatment of lung cancer in the past decade and what better opportunity than lung cancer awareness month.

In 2010, only 20 per cent of metastatic lung cancer (stage 4) patients lived beyond 5 years. As research progressed in 2016, the five-year survival rate had reached up to approximately 25 per cent. And with the advent of novel therapies like immunotherapy, this is continuing to improve at a rapid pace.

All you need to know about various therapies for lung cancer

The era of Targeted therapy, Precision medicine

In early 2000, it was discovered that there were certain mutations known as driver mutations which lead to lung cancer. This ushered a new era of precision medicine in lung cancer and ever since then molecular testing has been a fundamental tool to guide and individualize treatment. Did you know? Mutations like EGFR, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, MET, RET, HER2, KRAS, are routinely done nowadays under-scoring the wide breadth of targets and corresponding therapies now available for lung cancer treatment. Yes, that’s right! Lung cancer can be treated with appropriate diagnosis and timely detection. 

Notably, patients with an oncogenic driver mutation who received targeted therapy survived a median of 3.5 years whereas patients with driver mutation who did not receive targeted therapy had a median survival of 2.4 years. And those without a driver mutation and median survival of just 2 years. 

Era of immunotherapy

Introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors in 2015 represents a major milestone in lung cancer treatment. Immunotherapy monotherapy or immunotherapy + chemotherapy are now the front line options of lung cancer treatment who don’t have above-mentioned driver mutations. 

The checkpoint inhibitor therapy, durvalumab, is also used in stage 3 lung cancer and has shown to significantly prolong the overall survival as well as preventing the tumour from progressing as compared to the previous standard of care therapies.

Though the treatments are improving, prevention remains better than cure. Stop smoking, stay away from tobacco and shun the smoke and embrace a healthy life. Always consult a qualified medical oncologist if you have any doubts regarding Lung Cancer.

Disclaimer: The article has been authored by Dr Pushpak Chirmade, MD DM, consultant oncologist, Oncura Cancer Care, Navi Mumbai & Thane. Views expressed are personal.

Published at Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:54:20 +0000