Incidence of lung cancer is increasing across India and worldwide.
What are the common causes of lung cancer? Can lung cancer occur in nonsmokers too?
Majority lung cancers are caused due to smoking – including both active and passive. However, many nonsmoker patients can also develop lung cancer sometimes due to some mutations in our body cells.
What are the symptoms of lung cancer?
Patients with lung cancer commonly present with persistent cough, blood in sputum, shortness of breath, weight loss or change in voice. Rarely in advanced stages, patients may present with persistent back/hip pain, headache or seizure.
Any advanced tests for diagnosing and staging lung cancer?
There are advanced tests for lung cancer diagnosis and staging which your oncologist will prescribe as per requirement.
- PET CT Scan – This is a whole-body scan which helps in correctly identifying stage of lung cancer.
- Endoscopic Bronchial ultrasound (EBUS)
- Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-helps in identifying which medicine will work best against a particular cancer.
What is the common treatment protocol for lung cancer?
Treatment of lung cancer varies according to it’s subtype. Treatment of patients with lung cancer varies depending on patient’s age, stage of lung cancer as well as type of lung cancer.
What are the recent advances in treatment of lung cancer?
Several advancements in lung cancer treatment includes
- Minimally invasive surgery including VATS and Robotic surgery. Surgery works only for early-stage lung cancer.
- Focused radiation techniques like IMRT, IGRT, SBRT allow high cure rates with least side effects.
- Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have improved cure rates for lung cancers.
Can lung cancer be cured without surgery?
Selected patients with lung cancer can be cured without surgery with precise high dose radiation technique called as SBRT (stereotactic body radiation therapy). In this high dose precise radiation therapy is given to lung cancer over 3-10 sittings.