According to China’s 2012 Health Statistical Yearbook, lung cancer accounts for the first place in incidence and mortality of malignant tumors in China at present, so how lung cancer should be treated, how effective the treatment is, whether it should be operated, and how effective the surgery is are all issues worth our attention.
At present, comprehensive treatment of lung cancer based on surgery has been recognized, and patients who have obtained surgical treatment are substantially ahead of patients without surgery in terms of survival time and survival quality. A large amount of literature reports that the survival time after lung cancer surgery is much higher than that after receiving only radiotherapy and chemotherapy. For lung cancer patients treated with surgery, whether the lung cancer is in early stage, its malignancy, whether the surgical method is correctly selected, whether the resection is standardized and complete, whether there are lymph node metastasis, whether the lymph node dissection is standardized and complete, whether the postoperative adjuvant treatment is appropriate, and whether the postoperative review is regular, etc. will affect the surgical outcome and survival time of lung cancer, as follows.
I. Early treatment or not
The postoperative survival of lung cancer mainly depends on whether the treatment is early or not. The earlier the surgery, the better the result and the longer the survival time, for example, the 5-year survival rate of IA can be over 70%.
Second, malignancy degree
The degree of malignancy is also one of the key factors to determine how long lung cancer can live. According to pathological examination, tumors with high cell differentiation have low malignancy and longer survival time; while tumors with low differentiation have high malignancy and survival time will be affected. Tumors with low differentiation often need adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery to consolidate the efficacy of surgery.
III. Whether the surgery is correct, standardized and thorough
The principle of lung cancer surgery is to remove as much tumor tissue as possible while preserving as much lung function as possible. Therefore, the ideal standardized lung cancer surgery requires complete removal of tumor and lymph nodes while preserving as much lung function as possible.
1. Thorough removal of lesions
Thorough resection of lesions can ensure complete removal of tumor tissues from the body, laying a solid foundation for the radical cure of lung cancer, while largely reducing the risk of recurrence and metastasis;
2.Standardized and systematic lymph node dissection
Standardized and systematic lymph node dissection is as important as complete removal of tumor lesions, and both are key factors affecting survival time after surgery. If lymph node dissection is not standardized and complete, it will seriously affect survival time and cannot accurately stage the lymph nodes and thus cannot correctly guide postoperative adjuvant treatment, thus affecting the overall lung cancer treatment. This point should be given special attention!
3. Preserve more healthy lung tissues
The recovery of lung function after lung cancer surgery is also one of the key factors affecting the prognosis of lung cancer. Preserving as much healthy lung tissue as possible during surgery can reduce the damage to the body during surgery on one hand, and on the other hand, more abundant lung function can significantly help the quality of life and mobility after surgery. To achieve this it is necessary to choose the correct surgical fraction and at the same time to have a high level of surgical skill. For example, choosing lobe sleeve resection to avoid total pneumonectomy, which means that the part of the lung invaded by the tumor is fully removed, and then the healthy lung is preserved and re-transplanted back to function again.
4.Minimally invasive surgery
With the continuous development of medicine, thoracoscopic minimally invasive lung cancer radical surgery has become the development direction of lung cancer surgery, and a large number of surgeries at home and abroad have proved that minimally invasive surgery not only achieves 100% of the effect of open-heart surgery, but even more thoroughly and cleanly because of the magnification function of thoracoscope, but also minimally invasive surgery The surgery is less traumatic, less painful, faster recovery, longer survival time and higher quality of survival after the surgery.
5.Correct comprehensive assessment before surgery and appropriate neoadjuvant treatment
Adequate assessment of the patient’s condition before surgery can provide a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of the patient’s situation, and the decision of the surgical method and the choice of postoperative adjuvant therapy can be more fully evaluated; neoadjuvant therapy can have the opportunity to allow some patients who lost the chance of surgery in the preoperative assessment to regain the chance of surgery.
Correct and timely adjuvant therapy after surgery
Surgery is the most important and critical step in lung cancer treatment, but post-surgery consolidation therapy is also important. Correct radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery can effectively consolidate the effect of surgery and help to win longer survival time. Targeted therapy is an advanced and effective adjuvant therapy in lung cancer treatment in recent years. Compared with traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy, targeted therapy is more effective and has fewer side effects, which is the development direction of adjuvant lung cancer treatment in the future. Targeted therapy is gene therapy, and the key is accurate gene testing. Using surgical resection specimens for testing is recognized as the most accurate and reliable testing results, which can bring more comprehensive guidance for targeted therapy.
V. Individual differences
There are obvious individual differences in malignant tumors. The same pathological type, the same degree of malignancy, the same stage of lung cancer, and the same surgical procedure can all have different effects on survival time depending on the patient. Individualized treatment for lung cancer is aimed at eliminating the influence of individual differences on lung cancer prognosis and formulating individualized treatment plans for different patients to fully ensure the efficacy of lung cancer treatment.
It is precisely for the various factors that affect how long a lung cancer patient can live after surgery that we formulate adequate and standardized treatment measures in the treatment of lung cancer, including.
1. Surgery according to the best internationally recognized standards, standardized surgery and complete resection
During surgery, we will not only completely remove the primary cancer foci and systematically clear the lymph nodes in the lung hilum and mediastinum, but also ensure the complete resection and integrity through rapid pathological examination during surgery. After the operation, all the resected tissues will be sorted into different categories and sent for pathological examination, which will eventually lead to accurate pathological diagnosis and pathological staging and provide the most important basis for guiding whether and how to carry out adjuvant treatment after surgery.
2.Maximum preservation of healthy lung tissues and high quality of life after surgery
At the same time, we pay attention to improving the quality of survival of patients after surgery, and will adopt the leading domestic and international technologies such as sleeve lobectomy to preserve as much healthy lung tissue as possible, so that many patients who are considered inoperable are not only given the opportunity to have surgery, prolonging their survival time, but also ensuring the quality of life after surgery.
3.Most patients are treated by minimally invasive surgery
Minimally invasive surgery has a very positive impact on postoperative recovery and postoperative survival time of lung cancer patients. We have taken the lead in carrying out minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery in China, especially in Hubei Province, and various minimally invasive surgeries have become our surgical strengths and features, and have accumulated rich experience and are at the leading level nationwide, with satisfactory surgical results. Minimally invasive surgical treatment is less traumatic, less painful, quicker recovery, better surgical results and shorter hospitalization time.
4.correctly guiding post-surgical adjuvant treatment
The long-term effect of lung cancer treatment is not only affected by the removal of local lesions, but also involves the recurrence of lung cancer and distant metastasis. Therefore, we will correctly guide and arrange patients for post-operative adjuvant treatment according to their post-surgical pathological types, lymph node metastasis and other aspects.
5.Long-term follow-up service after discharge and long-term rehabilitation and treatment guidance
We will provide patients with long-term post-operative guidance through telephone, letter, website and QQ on a regular basis after their discharge from the hospital to keep abreast of changes in their condition and provide guidance for review and next treatment. We allow patients to receive advanced, correct, standardized and systematic treatment and services for a long time.
From our follow-up results, the survival rate of our surgical treatment of lung cancer is much higher than the average reported at home and abroad, for example, the 3-year survival rate reaches 65.6%, which is much higher than the 40% reported at home and abroad.
In general, lung cancer is a malignant tumor with high malignancy, morbidity and mortality. However, it must be clearly understood that malignant tumor is a disease with significant individual differences, and the evidence of survival time and quality of survival we have obtained so far can only be used as a broad reference, and how long lung cancer patients can actually live is still a complex issue. The question is still a complex one. Early detection, early treatment, choosing regular medical institutions and obtaining individualized treatment plans can extend the life span of lung cancer patients as much as possible.