Cancer Information

Archive for the ‘Stage Of Lung Cancer’ Category

Prostate cancer is one of the greatest scourges of the male sector of the population. It is also one of the most common diseases within that social branch, and early diagnosis can save many lives. There is a massive aversion to the conduct of tests for the detection of this cancer, but is very necessary to be carried out in order to treat properly in the event of his appearance.

After 40 years of age is almost obligatory to do prostate exam every year. The most common is the digital rectal examination performed by a urologist, although there are several studies and analysis that can be used for the detection of cancer. Older people are more prone to this disease, which is very important to make an annual inspection to avoid any kind of surprise.

The list of symptoms of this disease is quite varied. If you experience any of these, you better do a check with your doctor you trust: painful urination, loss, blood in excreta and muscular pain in the spine area, groin and testicles. Remember that early diagnosis can help an effective treatment that reduces the risk of death.

Nor is it a matter of living scared, but it is always useful to encourage prevention. Note that maintaining good eating habits and physical activity significantly decreases the risk of prostate cancer. Also, remember that familial predisposition is also a condition to have this condition.

If the diagnosis is cancer, your doctor will want to know the arena (stage or extent) of the disease. Staging was performed to determine whether the cancer has spread and, if so, to what parts of the body.

Lung cancer often spreads to the brain or bones. Knowing the stage (stage) of the disease helps the doctor plan lung cancer treatment. Some of the tests used to determine whether the cancer has spread are:

CT scans or CT scan. A computer linked to an X-ray machine creates a series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). A powerful magnet linked to a computer produces detailed pictures of areas inside the body.

Radionuclide studies. The scans with radionuclides (radioactive isotopes) can show whether cancer has spread to other organs including the liver. The patient swallows or receives an injection of a mildly radioactive substance. A machine (scanner) measures and records the level of radioactivity in certain organs to reveal abnormal areas.

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The reported staging the spread of cancer, determine prognosis, and suggests the best treatment for the lung cancer patient. Although lung cancer is treatable at any stage, only certain stages can be cured.

In general, a lower stage is associated with better prognosis. However, no doctor can predict how a patient will live with lung cancer based only on the stage of disease, because cancer is different in each person and each patient’s response to treatment is different. The classification system is different for lung cancer small cell and non small cell.

1 .- small cell cancer. It is classified as:

• Disease limited: the tumor has not spread beyond one side of the chest. This region can be treated with radiation. It occurs in about 40% of patients.

• Disease spread: the tumor has spread outside the chest cavity. It is approximately 60% of cases. At present the treatment of choice is chemotherapy.

2 .- Non-Small Cell Cancer: It is classified into several stages depending on its scope:

- Stage 0: there is only disease at the microscopic level. Surgery may completely remove the tumor in this stadium.

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Limited Stage
In general, chemotherapy is used as primary treatment, with the use of several drugs in combination.

With chemotherapy is used radiotherapy to the chest. Patients who respond well to initial treatment is administered, so preventive radiation to the head. This is because the brain is one of the sites where metastases frequently occur.

In most patients, these tumors resolve with treatment, but soon reappear becoming resistant to treatment. The survival rate of two years in the limited stage, is 40% to 50% but is reduced by 10% to 20% for five years.

Many studies are underway to test the effectiveness of other treatments such as immunotherapy or gene therapy.

Extensive stage
The prognosis at this stage is very bad if left untreated cancer. Chemotherapy may be used to treat symptoms and flatter short-term survival.

Treatment with two or more drugs can shrink tumors in about 70% to 80% of these patients. Radiation therapy is also used to control symptoms and prevent the occurrence of brain metastases.

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Stage 0
At this stage do not require chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Surgery may completely remove the cancer. The type of surgery is a segmentectomy, ie the removal of a lung wedge.

Stage I
Segmentectomy is generally used for smaller tumors or for patients with worse physical condition, or lobectomy to remove the tumor.

The effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy, is being tested in clinical trials. Although micrometastases is useful for those that have not been identified and have not been removed by surgery.

If the tumor is at the edge of the lung tissue probably not have removed all the cancer cells, so radiation therapy is recommended.

Radiation therapy can be used as primary treatment if the patient, general condition, can not undergo surgery. The survival rate after five years in this stage is 65%.

Stage II
Used surgery: segmentectomy or lobectomy.

Radiation therapy can be used after surgery to ensure that it is not any cancer cells. It can also be used as primary therapy in those patients who can not be operated on by health problems. Chemotherapy may be used after surgery or radiotherapy.

The survival rate for patients who are in this stage of cancer is 40%.

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The classification of small cell lung tumors is much simpler. In this type of cancer is spoken of limited stage and extensive stage.

The limited stage means that the tumor is confined to the hemithorax of origin, the mediastinum and supraclavicular nodes. This would be tolerable in the employment field of radiotherapy.

The extended period is one in which the cancer is too widespread to be included within the definition of limited stage, ie the cancer has spread to other lung, to lymph nodes in the other breast to distant organs, and so on.

Patients with limited stage of cancer may be effectively treated with radiation therapy. In those with extensive stage is not as applicable radiotherapy.

The non-small lung cancers are classified into several stages or phases following a fairly complex system known by the acronym TNM. The staging of the tumor is very important because it can, first, to distinguish patients cured of which are not and, secondly, to calculate the probability of being cured.

The T refers to tumor size. It is classified between T1 and T4, as the more bulky tumor affecting nearby structures or important as the main bronchi, arteries, or the heart itself.

The N indicates whether or not they affected the nearby lymph nodes. N0 means that they are not. The lymph node involvement is an important prognostic factor that graduates from N1 to N3. In particular it is vital to know whether or not invaded most central nodes of the thorax, a region known as the mediastinum. In general, involvement of the mediastinum means the tumor is inoperable.

M indicates if no metastasis (M0) or, conversely, if the cancer has already branched out to distant organs (M1).