Lung Cancer / Mesothelioma
For many patients with early stage, resected NSCLC, chemotherapy after surgery may be a strong consideration to minimize the chance of the cancer returning, in which cases, it is often not possible to cure it. Several clinical trials over the past few years have shown benefits from chemo combinations, but which ones would be […]
7 CommentsThe cornerstone of treating early NSCLC (stage I, II, and sometimes stage IIIA) is surgery, at least if a patient is able to tolerate that. While many patients can be cured after surgery alone, patients remain at risk for both local recurrence near where the original cancer was, and also distant spread. The latter is […]
6 CommentsWe define whether someone has cancer, and what type of cancer it is, by a piece of tumor tissue. This evidence of cancer under a microscope is considered critical, so much so that there is a general oncology dictum of “no meat, no treat”, requiring a tissue diagnosis before starting a treatment with potentially significant […]
0 CommentsAlthough Avastin has been approved for first-line treatment of advanced NSCLC, at this point it cannot be universally employed. Patients with squamous cancers account for something in the range of 30% of patients, while patients with brain metastases amount to about 10-15% of patients. Another 5-10% may have hemoptysis, or the symptom of coughing up […]
6 CommentsAvastin (bevacizumab), an antiangiogenic agent that works by blocking the blood vessel stimulating factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), has already been FDA approved and commercially available for colon cancer, but it has now been approved by the FDA for first-line treatment of non-squamous NSCLC in combination with standard chemo of carboplatin and paclitaxel […]
0 CommentsRight now we use the same conventional staging system for BAC as with other lung cancers. I don’t have a great alternative just yet. I can tell you that as the lead investigator on several BAC trials, there are huge differences in the natural history of their cancer, regardless of what our treatment does. For […]
0 CommentsA recent trial by Olaussen and colleagues was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested that in the future oncologists may become better at identifying the patients who are more or less likely to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery for early stage non-small cell lung cancer. At this point, the marker […]
0 CommentsThe clinical syndrome of BAC is characterized by spread primarily through the lungs, a higher proportion of never-smokers or light former smokers, a greater proportion of women, and often progresses more slowly than most other lung cancers. This clinical and radiographic (scans) scenario isn’t necessarily seen only with “pure BAC” under the microscrope from a […]
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