Surgery is the first and the most important step of lung cancer treatment. Surgery is the only way to clarify the diagnosis and pathological stage, which is precisely the prerequisite for radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
I. Why some patients need post-surgical treatment
As long as lung cancer is clearly diagnosed by pathology after surgery, there is a possibility of metastasis or recurrence after surgery, because lung cancer can produce micro-metastasis through blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. Adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery can kill local residual and micro-metastases in blood vessels and lymphatic vessels throughout the body, which can significantly improve long-term survival rate and is a useful supplement to surgical treatment.
II. Patients who need postoperative chemotherapy
For early stage (I) lung cancer patients, radical surgery to remove the tumor can achieve good results without postoperative chemotherapy, and adjuvant chemotherapy is advocated for all patients except stage I after surgery. Generally, chemotherapy is started 3 to 4 weeks after surgery. If the patient’s general condition is poor, chemotherapy can be administered after the general condition improves, generally for 4 to 6 cycles.
Three, chemotherapy precautions
Before each chemotherapy, blood test should be done to check the white blood cell and liver and kidney function. If the white blood cell is <3000 or the liver and kidney function is abnormal, chemotherapy should be temporarily suspended. The side effects of chemotherapy vary from person to person and are not as terrible as you think, so you do not have to worry too much.
4.What patients need post-operative radiotherapy?
For patients who do not have radical resection of tumor or have intermediate to advanced lung cancer (stage III-IV), radiotherapy is needed after surgery. It usually starts 3-4 weeks after surgery, and the course of treatment takes about 2-6 weeks. In the past, most of them used conventional segmental irradiation method, but it is still used now. 5 days a week, once a day, the dose of each irradiation is 1.8-2.0 Gy, and the total amount of primary foci and mediastinal lymph nodes in the lung gate is 60-65 Gy. There are other radiotherapy methods, such as segmental irradiation, super-segmental irradiation, etc., and the schedule of irradiation is different from this.
V. Precautions after radiotherapy
1.Regular outpatient follow-up
2.Maintain the physiological function of the body.
3.Ensure nutrition, mainly high protein that can be easily digested and absorbed.
4.Continue to take traditional Chinese medicine or immunotherapy to improve the immune function of the body, support the righteousness and eliminate the evil to prevent metastasis and recurrence.
5.Actively treat radiation side effects and sequelae.
6.Pay attention to local protection, such as the cleanliness of the irradiated field, avoid physical and chemical stimulation (including drugs, etc.).
7. Prevent colds and flu to avoid inducing radiation pneumonia, and also avoid infection or trauma to the organs where the tumor is located or the normal organs or tissues included in the irradiation.
VI. Which patients can be treated with Chinese medicine
You can take Chinese herbal medicine, including proprietary Chinese medicine and Chinese herbal medicine, at the same time of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It is recommended that you take the medicine under the guidance of an experienced herbalist, and do not take some so-called secret recipes or prescriptions casually to avoid the danger of toxic side effects. Please note that the claim that Chinese medicine has no side effects is completely false. If necessary, you can also apply some immunomodulatory drugs and biological products such as interferon under the guidance of your doctor to enhance the anti-cancer mechanism in your organism.
VII. Who are suitable for targeted therapy
1.For some lung cancer patients who are temporarily not suitable for immediate surgery, they can be treated with targeted drugs before surgery to make the tumor smaller or the lymph nodes recede, and then achieve the effect of radical cure through surgery, which is called targeted neoadjuvant therapy.
2.For post-surgical lung cancer patients, the decision of whether to use targeted therapeutic drugs for post-surgical adjuvant therapy can be made based on the pathological stage after surgery and the genetic test results of surgically excised lung cancer tissues.
3.For lung cancer patients whose disease is too advanced or whose function of important organs such as heart and lung cannot tolerate surgery and radiotherapy, the choice of targeted therapy is becoming more and more popular and accepted.
4.For lung cancer patients who are ineffective in radiotherapy or unable to tolerate its side effects, targeted therapy is a new hope.