Lung Cancer / Mesothelioma
In my earliest introductory post about SCLC, I described the typical staging breakdown used clinically, which is essentially divided into limited disease SCLC (LD-SCLC), which is typically treated with chemo and chest radiation together, with curative intent, and extensive disease SCLC (ED-SCLC), which is typically treated with chemo alone and is not considered conventionally curable. But […]
0 CommentsOne topic that is rarely considered in the management of SCLC is the role of surgery. The main reason is that the vast majority of patients presenting with SCLC either have extensive disease that has spread throughout the body (2/3 of SCLC presentations) or at least already have rather bulky nodal disease that would […]
4 CommentsThere’s been several discussions about the potential value of maintenance therapy after the initial chemotherapy for SCLC; I’ve discussed this subject in a prior post, in which I focused on chemo (prior post here) — while the results haven’t been strong enough to lead to a change in standard practice, at least one trial […]
0 Comments Dr. Laskin has appreciated the warm welcome. Not only have you not scared her off, she’s written her first post for us.
By the way, it’s misleading to have my name and picture and “about the author” next to these posts by our new faculty — the software upgrade will fix this. Here’s her […]
We know PET scans can provide additional metabolic information that can be more sensitive and specific for cancer than chest x-rays and even CT scans in the initial staging of lung cancer (see prior post on introduction to PET scans). PET scans are now nearly universally employed in the initial workup, at least of […]
3 CommentsAmong the key issues in following patients with a history of treated lung cancer is the pattern of recurrence. We need to have a sense of when the risk is highest and where people are more likely to demonstrate new evidence of disease. Fortunately, there are several studies that can help us with these […]
4 Comments The fact is that lung cancer, like many others, is a disease disproportionately affecting older populations, with the median age now in the 69-70 range.
(Click to enlarge)
But our trials in lung cancer only rarely involve patients over 70. This leaves us with serious questions about the best way to treat older and poor performance […]
I recently received a question on the Q&A Forum about the use of cisplatin vs. carboplatin in SCLC. In contrast to the smoldering debate about cisplatin vs. carboplatin in NSCLC that I described in a recent post, there’s been very little study and not as much debate about SCLC. What little I can say […]
2 CommentsAfter Avastin was found to produce a survival benefit when combined with chemo in advanced NSCLC, it became increasingly appealing to try to see if adding Avastin in earlier stages of lung cancer, both SCLC and NSCLC, where it might increase the cure rate. I’ve described how it’s being studied in a trial with […]
3 CommentsProphylactic cranial irradiation, or PCI, for SCLC, usually limited disease (LD-SCLC), remains a controversial issue, although this is generally recommended for patients with LD-SCLC who have a complete response to treatment (no evidence of disease). However, the idea of radiating the brain of someone who has no evidence of cancer there and may never […]
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