What information should I be seeking? - 1290486

Hi leobloom and welcome to Grace. We do have a lot written on the subject and a search of the site with the key term "stage III nsclc" should help with an extended understanding of the subject.

With that said I'll walk you through a couple of things. First of all you are possibly cured meaning the cancer won't come back. Treatment of stage III nsclc with chemo and radiation is a curitive treatment just like if you had surgery. There is a bit of data that questions if this type of treatment is as effective as if you had surgery. However it looks as if the question may never be answered because people who are operable tend to want surgery so trials that have tried to answer the question haven't been able to acquire enough people who could have either to subject themselves to radiation and chemo instead of surgery.

But chemo/rads do definitely cure many. My husband included it appears. He's 6 years out from chemo/radiation treatment and what was thought to be progression may have not been progression.

Time will tell. 5 years post curitive treatment is the standard cut off point where the likelihood of recurring is all but gone. The standard in the US is to continue a life long yearly CT for screening for cancer if you've had cancer because you're a higher risk of getting a 2nd cancer. The good part about that is you have a better chance of catching a cancer at an earlier and more curable stage.

What is seen on a scan is possible scarring that won't go away not cancer. It's just not possible to tell and the fact is there's no other way to tell but through time. I hope you continue to do well, be cancer free and live life in your beautiful Ireland.

All best,
Janine