After lung cancer surgery, the focus is to check whether there is recurrence and metastasis. Although the review cannot prevent or delay recurrence or metastasis, it is possible to detect it early so that corresponding remedial measures may be taken.
The time and content of review refer to the following table.
Time of review Content of review
3 months Chest CT, abdominal ultrasound (liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland)
6 months Chest CT, abdominal ultrasound (liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland), cranial CT, bone scan (ECT), tumor markers
9 months CT chest, ultrasound abdomen (liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland)
12 months Chest CT, abdominal ultrasound (liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland), cranial CT, bone scan (ECT), tumor markers
18 months Same as at 12 months
24 months Same as 12 months
30 months Same as 12 months
36 months Same as 12 months
42 months Same as 12 months
48 months Same as 12 months
54 months Same as 12 months
60 months Same as 12 months
Note: 1.
1.”Review time” means from the date of surgery, 3 months, 6 months ……, and so on.
2. The above review contents are common after general surgery, but if there are special circumstances in surgery, special follow-up is needed, for example
(1) If the tumor is central lung cancer and there is tumor residue after surgery (positive bronchial margin), etc., fiberoptic bronchoscopy should be performed regularly to prevent the tumor recurrence in the residue.
(2) Generally, plain CT of the chest is sufficient, but if the postoperative result report reports hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis, tumor residue, etc., it is better to do enhanced CT.
(3) It is better to do enhanced CT scan of the head. If the economic condition is better, it is better to consider MRI of the head (enhanced MRI is better), if brain metastasis cannot be ruled out before surgery, it is recommended to do MRI examination, and the interval of examination should be shortened.
(4) Similarly, if you are not sure whether there are bone metastases before surgery, you should also pay close attention to the interval of bone scan (ECT) examination, which should be 3 months, and then extend the interval of examination after a period of continuous observation to find stability and exclude metastases.
(5) Tumor marker examination is best to have the control of preoperative examination results, because this examination is relatively expensive, it is better to selectively check several items. If the economic condition is general, unless there are elevated indicators in the preoperative examination, tumor markers may not be checked.
(6) If chemotherapy or radiotherapy was performed after surgery, it can also be combined with these two kinds of adjuvant treatment and listen to the review plan of chemotherapy or radiotherapy doctors for a period of time.
(3) More than 5 years after surgery, generally, the examination should be conducted once a year, and the content should be the same as the annual examination, if you do not want to continue the examination, you can also.
4.The above is a regular review without special circumstances, if special discomfort occurs, it should be reviewed at any time to understand what has happened.
5, combined with the local medical conditions, the review in the local hospital (refers to foreign hospitals) and surgery hospital (refers to our hospital) are available.