larry1941
Posts:7

Watched video on above subject by Dr. Vivek Mehta. I was diagnosed with stage IV NSC lung cancer with the ALK mutation and currently being treated with Xalkori. Is it possible that my cancer could be treated by the above Radiation Therapy?
Larry

Forums
Full Archive

Reply # - November 9, 2012, 08:37 PM

catdander
Posts:

Hello Larry, Welcome to Grace. It isn't considered helpful to perform radiation outside the brain when lung cancer is stage 4 and not considered curable. Systemic therapy such as xalkori in your case and chemo are given to treat the whole body, systemically. Exceptions are when the cancer is causing symptoms such as pain or impinging on another structure radiation is given to relieve the immediate problem.

Below is a link that discusses this in much more detail.

I hope this is helpful,
Janine
forum moderator

http://cancergrace.org/cancer-101/2011/01/01/cancer-101-faq-i-have-meta…

Reply # - November 9, 2012, 10:16 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

I agree completely with Janine. The FAQ is there because (by definition) it's a very common question, but unfortunately, there isn't any known value to treating metastatic lung cancer with radiation to spot after spot after spot, even if we can do that.

-Dr. West

Previous PostNext Post