Most of the times, lung cancer is found when it has already spread to other parts of the body. It may have travel to lymph nodes near or away from lung, the brain, adrenal gland or other lung. When the spread has gone to other parts of body, this is the advanced form of disease and thus, gets harder to treat.
The doctor evaluates various treatment options available according to the condition of the patient. While immunotherapy helps body in recognizing cancer cells and attacks unhealthy cells, targeted therapy is another way to strike cancer cells. Traditional chemotherapy kills the cells and targeted therapy stops them from multiplying. These treatment methods may not work for everyone and the health assistant tests ways to pair them with existing treatment for lung cancer.
When doctors use two or more methods for lung cancer treatment, it is called as combination therapy. There are many combinations of chemotherapy drugs that can be used to treat tumor. In cases where one treatment alone may not make the cancer shrink, adding one makes it work better. Also, some therapies work better when combined together at different stages of the treatment. For patients with metastatic lung cancer, the initial treatments are like chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy. If that does not work like the expectations, the additional therapies are also added to achieve the best results.
The stage and type of cancer are the factors behind determining single therapy or combination therapy. Sometimes, the combination therapy is not used to cure but to help in reducing lung cancer symptoms and prolong life. Some clinical trials have also suggested that combination of immunotherapy with traditional chemotherapy may be more effective than immune-targeting drugs alone.
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.
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