Compared with other cancers, lung cancer is more like a “latent killer”. When most patients are diagnosed with lung cancer, they are already in advanced stage and the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. Therefore, many people think that if surgery is not possible for middle and late stage lung cancer, there is no need for further treatment, and there is no need for chemotherapy, because it is likely to cost a lot of money and not live long. This is a kind of cognitive misconception. The result is very different between treatment and no treatment. If no treatment is given, the patient can only survive for about six months to a year, while the quality of survival can be significantly improved after taking a combination of surgery, drugs and immunotherapy. In addition, experts remind that the diet of lung cancer patients is very important. To live long and well, you must stay away from sugar and food additives.
Advanced lung cancer: the outcome is very different between treatment and no treatment.
Lung cancer is highly malignant and has poor prognosis. Clinically, because some lung cancer patients are not diagnosed and treated in time, when diagnosed, the disease has already developed to the middle and late stages, and many patients have metastasized and spread to many parts of the body, and about 80% of them die within one year after the diagnosis is clear. Therefore, some patients think that since the disease has developed to the middle and late stage, the time of survival is similar whether treated or not, so they simply do not treat it.
In fact, this is not true. Statistics show that patients with advanced lung cancer can only survive for 3-4 months without treatment, but with surgery, single chemotherapy drugs, targeted drugs combined with immunotherapy, cell therapy and other techniques, the quality of survival is significantly improved, and some patients can even survive for 3-5 years. It can be seen that the outcome of treatment or no treatment is very different. Especially those patients with non-small cell lung cancer, if there is no distant lymphatic metastasis and no spread to organs such as liver, brain, bones and adrenal glands, they can undergo surgery according to the guidance of international guidelines for lung cancer treatment, which can maximize life prolongation and improve the quality of survival.
“What if I am at an advanced stage and the tumor is too big for surgery?” Some other patients have such a doubt, which actually involves the indications for lung cancer surgery. Some patients either have tumors that are too large for immediate surgery, or tumors that are not large but have developed distant metastases. Chen Zhenguang said that for these patients, chemotherapy can be used to shrink the tumor to reduce the stage, and then seize the opportunity to perform radical resection. Combined with various techniques such as chemotherapy drugs, targeted drugs, immunotherapy, cell therapy and even Chinese medicine adjuvant therapy, patients may achieve the goal of long-term survival, otherwise everything is free of discussion.
Do not blindly believe in various tests and single means for lung cancer treatment, the most reliable one is “private tailoring”.
Drugs are one of the pillars of lung cancer treatment and one of the most effective treatments to save and prolong patients’ lives. How to select drugs that predict relative sensitivity and avoid drugs that predict relative resistance is the key to improve the efficacy. With the development of pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics that target drug sensitivity-related markers for detection, individualized drug therapy has become possible. Individualized therapy, also known as “personal tailoring”, is the use of the best chemotherapeutic agent or targeted drug for the patient based on his or her tumor pathology and genetic characteristics to improve drug sensitivity and prolong median survival time while minimizing toxic side effects.
However, such tests should not be fetishized. Not to mention that these tests are more often used in research, but more importantly, the “cost effectiveness” of the tests is not high, and patients may spend a lot of money and not get satisfactory results, “some institutions exaggerate the importance of genetic testing, in fact, these tests are not so magical, clinical In clinical practice, when we choose targeted drugs or chemotherapeutic drugs, we should mainly base on individual patient’s condition and genetic test results, combine the guidelines of lung cancer treatment and the experience of different disciplines, and give reasonable treatment plans through the collaboration of multiple disciplines, which is believed to be more reliable.”
Regarding diet, the farther you stay away from sugar, cola and cookies, the better.
During chemotherapy, as the drugs kill tumor cells, it is inevitable that the normal cells will be damaged to a certain extent and produce corresponding toxic side effects, such as decreased immune function, leukopenia, gastrointestinal mucosal ulcers, hair loss, etc. At this time, the patient’s diet should also be made. At this time, the patient’s diet should also make corresponding changes, Chen Zhenguang reminded that the following four points can be referred to do.
1.Salt taste is stronger and add ingredients to enhance the flavor.
Although lung cancer patients do not advocate big fish and meat, the dishes can be made “tasty”, otherwise the patient’s appetite is not good, and if they insist on being light, they will not be able to eat and eventually become malnourished. “When cooking can be less oil, appropriate more salt, or through soy sauce, ginger and garlic flavor, to ensure that patients can eat.”
2. Eat less sugar-rich food.
The ability of tumor cells to absorb glucose is more than 10 times that of normal cells, but the way cancer cells use glucose is very different from normal cells. A glucose gets completely burned in the body and can produce a lot of heat. But cancer cells only use about 5% of that heat, in fact, they throw it away as waste just after it starts to burn. It is like eating an apple, cancer cells are throwing away each apple with only one bite and creating a lot of waste – lactic acid. Lactic acid suppresses T-cell activity and therefore suppresses the immune system. “Cancer cells in human body not only eat a large amount of glucose to maintain their rapid growth needs, but also spit out harmful substances to suppress the body’s immunity, therefore, tumor patients must eat less or no sugary food. Internationally, it is generally believed that the daily intake of sugar per person should be within 50 grams.”
3, to stay away from phosphate-based food additives.
Researchers from Seoul National University in Korea found in animal tests that phosphate-based food additives not only accelerate the growth of lung cancer, but also promote the occurrence of lung cancer. The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Emergency Medicine. The researchers found that inorganic phosphorus intake can activate certain key signaling channels in lung cancer cells. If 0,5% to 1,0% inorganic phosphorus (equivalent to the daily human intake) was added to the diet of mice with lung cancer, the volume of lung cancer in the mice was significantly larger after 4 weeks than in mice that ate the diet without inorganic phosphorus.
Coke, lemon soda, chocolate, ice cream, cookies, ketchup, mayonnaise, meat products and self-rising flour all contain phosphate food additives, and lung cancer patients must stay away from these foods.
4.Supplement high protein foods.
Patients should supplement high protein foods, such as milk, lean meat, fish, animal liver, red dates, adzuki beans, etc. River crabs, eels, black fish, beef, etc. also help to raise white blood cells. If there is loss of appetite and indigestion, add spleen-healthy and appetizing foods, such as hawthorn, white lentils, radish, mushrooms, and peel of Chen.
In addition, a variety of edible mushrooms such as shiitake and reishi have certain anti-cancer effects, especially shiitake has more nutritional value than all mushrooms, contains 7 kinds of essential amino acids, contains calcium, copper, iron, manganese and other trace elements, and also contains a variety of sugars and enzymes, which can improve and enhance human immunity and can be eaten appropriately.