Deciding on a Treatment Plan
Transcript
Once the patient’s cancer is fully staged, a decision is then made for a treatment plan based on the patient’s health and their cancer stage. This discussion is often made in a multidisciplinary conference with specialists, including pulmonologists, radiologists, pathologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgeons.
Patients with early stage cancer and good lung function will be good candidates for surgical resection of their cancer. In patients with more severe pulmonary limitations and pulmonary diseases such as COPD, surgery may not be an option, and radiation therapy would be an alternative approach.
Localized surgery or radiation therapy are unfortunately not great options for patients with more advanced or metastatic cancer. These patients will often require a combination of chemotherapy and radiation and possibly the addition of targeted therapies based on the cancer’s biomarker testing.
Key Takeaways
1. Once the cancer is fully staged, a treatment plan is selected based on the patient’s health and stage.
2. This discussion is often made in with various specialists.
3. Patients with early stage cancer and good lung function will be good candidates for surgical resection.
4. In patients with more severe pulmonary limitations and diseases such as COPD, radiation therapy would be chosen over surgery.
5. Patients with more advanced cancer will often require a combination of chemotherapy and radiation and possibly the addition of targeted therapies instead of localized surgery or radiation therapy.
