dkm5859
![]()
Posts:89
I guess my topic title is the question for now...but one more...do non-smokers once declared NED normally have better overall survival and or remain progression free than smokers? Any proven medical evidence on this? Thank you all once again, please take care and God bless.
Forums
Reply # - July 16, 2013, 01:35 PM
Reply To: When should and or can NED be declared official?? I
The evidence comes from a CT or a PET/CT, if the scan doesn't show disease then one is considered NED (no evidence of disease)
I'll ask a doctor to comment on the remainder of your question but want to add a personal note. Since my husband is the reason I'm here and the object of my affections I can't help but want to remind you that the small differences in prognostic averages of 1000s of people with advanced nsclc are all but useless when talking about one person. My husband's cancer has not behaved like the averages of people with similar diagnosis. A more reliable way to guess about the future is to get to know the biology of your mom's cancer. Here's a link to a discussion on the subject, http://cancergrace.org/cancer-101/2012/03/17/the-principle-of-letting-t…
I hope you are both doing alright,
Janine
Reply # - July 16, 2013, 04:12 PM
Reply To: When should and or can NED be declared official?? I
There is no official answer, but operationally, I'd consider no evidence of disease at 5 years to be pretty equivalent to cure, but it varies from disease to disease. The term NED reflects a time-specific condition and doesn't imply permanence. In a typically fast-growing cancer, NED x 3 years may be nearly always predict cure, while for a slower growing cancer, NED x 5 years may still be far from a guarantee of a real cure.
And I'm pretty sure there is no evidence to speak to differences in interpretation or prediction based on smoking status.
Good luck.
-Dr. West
Reply # - July 16, 2013, 07:40 PM
Reply To: When should and or can NED be declared official?? I
Hello--
"NED" is really a very unofficial term, despite how happy those three letters make the doctors, the families, and of course the patients when we discuss it. We refer to the lack of any detectable cancer on imaging. The longer a patient has "NED", overall the better the prognosis. This may indicate a cancer that is behaving more indolently and slowly, or in more rare cases, a cancer that is gone.
I am not aware of any research correlating a difference in prognosis of NED between smokers and nonsmokers. In general, it is just the longer the duration, the better.
I hope this helps!