Post-treatment rehabilitation for lung cancer

  1.Follow-up: For patients with lung cancer without tumor load, plain or enhanced CT and physical examination are required every 6-12 months for 2 years after surgery. 2 years later, annual follow-up physical examination and plain plain chest CT are performed. PET and MR are not currently used as routine follow-up for patients undergoing surgery, but brain MR is recommended for those with neurological symptoms. For the presence of benign lesions, such as pulmonary atelectasis, PET/CT can distinguish malignant tumors, but if post-radiotherapy changes are present, false positive changes may occur in the radiotherapy area for 2 years. For patients with advanced tumors, follow-up requires more frequent imaging. Smoking cessation is especially important for lung cancer patients in the recovery period, which can significantly improve symptoms and reduce tumor recurrence and second primary cancer.  2. Treatment during the recovery period: Patients with lung cancer who undergo radiotherapy have another complication, namely radiation lung injury. Radiation lung injury includes acute radiation pneumonia and chronic radiation pneumonia. The diagnosis of radiation lung injury requires the existence of a clear history of chest radiotherapy and most of the lesions are in the radiation field, but because radiation pneumonia is a kind of hypersensitivity reaction, it can accumulate to the radiation field and usually appears 1-7 months after radiotherapy, and without timely treatment, the disease will recur and antibiotic treatment alone is ineffective. Treatment of radiation pneumonia starts with avoiding colds, giving oxygen, expectorants and bronchodilators to keep the airway open. Adrenocorticosteroids are given to reduce the inflammatory response and edema at the site of the lesion.  Give antibiotic treatment. When there is no co-infection, antibiotics are used as prophylaxis, and when there is co-infection with bacteria, drugs need to be selected according to drug sensitivity. The main side effects of molecular targeted therapy are rash and diarrhea. Skin rash may appear in different degrees after 7-10 days of taking targeted drugs. It may appear as a rash on the lips, cheeks, back and buttocks, or even as inflammation, pus and unbearable itching.  This rash may disappear on its own, recur or not reappear after symptomatic treatment. Generally speaking, if patients with targeted lung cancer have mild rash, they can apply some corticosteroid ointment on the affected area for symptomatic treatment; if they have moderate to severe rash, they can apply chloramphenicol, Jatrorrhizin, or Bactrim on the affected area for treatment, and if it fails to work, they can also add emollients, lactic acid or antihistamines for treatment.  During the rash, patients should avoid exposure to sunlight and use soaps or body washes that are less irritating to the skin when bathing. If the rash is severe, the dosage of medication can be reduced. If the diarrhea is mild, no treatment is needed. If the diarrhea is severe, antidiarrheal drugs (such as Emmenagogue) can be used for symptomatic treatment; if the treatment with Emmenagogue is ineffective, the dose of targeted drugs should be temporarily reduced. Patients who really cannot tolerate the diarrhea, dehydration or skin adverse reactions caused by taking targeted drugs can stop the treatment.