#LCSM Chat Topic 05/09/2019: What’s new in early stage lung cancer
Our May 9, 2019 #LCSM Chat at 8 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) will focus on the newest treatments for early stage lung cancer. The topic should be interesting to all who deal with early stage disease — patients, caregivers, oncology nurses, surgeons, radiologists, pulmonologists, pathologists, and oncologists.
Although we have all heard about the tremendous advances in the treatment of metastatic lung cancer, we sometimes don’t appreciate the incredible progress we have also made in diagnosing and treating early stage lung cancer. Early stage patients can realistically strive for and expect cures.
However, challenges still remain. As opposed to many other cancers, the majority of lung cancer patients currently present with metastatic disease. As we find more lung cancers through lung cancer screening programs, incidentally, or through an overall increased awareness of the disease, we hope that will change and that most patients will be diagnosed earlier. But, even for patients with stage I lung cancer, survival rates are generally not as good as those seen in other common cancers such as breast, prostate, and colon cancer. Opportunities therefore exist to markedly improve outcomes in lung cancer patients with limited (stage I) or with local-regional disease (stage II and III).
With that in mind, the @lcsmchat team will discuss recent advances in early stage lung cancer. Some think treatment paradigms in these patients will change in the coming years just as dramatically as they have for patients with metastatic lung cancer. Advances in diagnosis of hard-to-get-to lung nodules will identify lung cancers even earlier. Targeted surgical therapy will cure these cancers, while minimizing harm to patients. Stereotactic radiation will increasingly become an alternative to surgical therapy for sicker patients and perhaps even for healthy patients. And finally, the drugs which have been so successfully targeted to patients with metastatic disease will increasingly be found to have value for patients with earlier stage disease.
Please join moderator Brendon Stiles (@BrendonStilesMD) in our May 9 #LCSM Chat to discuss cover the following topics:
- T1. What interventional pulmonology advances might improve diagnosis of lung nodules found on CT scans?
- T2. What is “targeted surgical therapy”? When can lung cancer surgery take less tissue than a complete lobe (lobectomy)?
- T3. Can stereotactic radiation be an alternative to surgery for some patients with early stage lung cancer?
- T4. Should targeted therapy be given to early stage lung cancer patients with driver mutations (like EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET)?
- T5. Is there a role for immunotherapy in patients with early stage lung cancer?
Hope you’ll join us! Please remember to include #LCSM in ALL your tweets so the other chat participants can see them. If you need a refresher, read our primer on participating in the chat. Note that some tweetchat apps (like tchat.io) will not display tweets longer than 140 characters.
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One year ago I voluntarily had a low dose CT scan of lungs. I was about to celebrate my 70th birthday and as a former smoker decided to find out if my lungs were good or bsd. I had no symptoms. A 1.2 cm lobulated lung nodule was found in right lower lobe. Lobectomy was suggested to me and that was done Sept 24, 2018. The nodule was an early small cell lung cancer with clean margins and no mets to lymph nodes. Stage 1a. I had 4 months of preventative chemo, cisplatin and eptoposide. No radiation. I am getting scans every 3 months and will possibly have PCI as well. I feel well, better than I ever have. In my case early screening probably saved my life. As people in the LC community you must tell older and former smokers to have this CT scan done. It should be as important as yearly mammograms and prostrate exans. Thank you.