Stage 4 Lung Cancer Survival Rate - Be Informed

40 percent of people who have been diagnosed of having malignant tumors in their lungs resulted in Stage 4 cancer of the lung. This is one of the most terrible news for anyone who has been diagnosed of cancer. A person may be devastated if he knew he was having a terminal disease that has a life expectancy of 8 months to a year and a lung cancer survival rate that is below 5 percent chance of survival.

Stage 4 lung cancer is one of the most lethal diseases in the entire world today. Life expectancy or even possibility of being cured is affected by a number of variables. When one is in the later stage of cancer, treatments and procedures are not the only things that can help the patient. Sometimes patients tend to not respond correctly to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy that their body is limited to tolerate the treatments being given to them.

Complications and health conditions such as emphysema and blood clots in the lungs can lower lung cancer survival rate even below 5 percent. Age is a huge contribution to one's capacity to survive, and this is due to the stronger natural defences of a young person than one in the later stages. Women also have a better survival rate when it comes to lung cancer than men.

The location of the tumor is one of the biggest concerns in determining the survival of one with stage 4 lung cancer. If the malignant cancer cells of the patient have started to infect other tissues and vital organs, the survival chances of the cancer of the lung drops down greatly each day that passes.

Statistics or researches that are written by medical practitioners all around the globe are based on the past years that went by. The most recent statistics of survival in a stage 4 cancer of the lungs are still based as early as 2005. With all the advancements in modern technology today, new treatment patterns are now being done by medical professionals in order to keep up with the spread of cancer cells throughout the body.

The five - year lung cancer survival rate of people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the lung is at a terrible rate of 5 to 10 percent chance of survival. Most of these patients are given 8 months to live upon diagnosis and only around 50 percent of these have moved past the 8 month period.

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Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Sufferers

Learning that you have developed mesothelioma is not easy. This is a rare cancer and deadly disease that is caused by asbestos exposure. Though the disease is not curable, there are several types of treatments and therapies that you can get to help you live a longer and comfortable life. If you or a loved one has developed this deadly disease, you must seek immediate treatment and get legal help and advice as soon as possible.

Secondary Exposure To Asbestos Fibers

Asbestos products and materials were common during the last century. Many workers in industries where asbestos exposure was prevalent came in contact with the deadly material regularly not knowing that their lives were at risk. Even those who were exposed to asbestos due to secondary exposure like fibers brought home on clothes and on the hair of workers have been discovered to place family members at severe risks of developing mesothelioma also. People who live near facilities that made asbestos containing products were also at risk for developing this deadly disease.

Here are some known industries and areas that asbestos products were prevalent. They include:

• Shipyards
• Insulation installers
• Construction workers
• Power and chemical plants
• Boilermakers
• Auto mechanics
• Electricians
• Plumbers
• Pipe fitters
• Welders
• Railroad workers
• And more...

If you have worked in any of these locations or have worked in any of these industries you should talk to your doctor so that you can get the proper diagnosis for your illness and receive treatment at the early stages of this disease. Mesothelioma is very difficult to diagnose and takes a very long time to present itself after exposure to asbestos, but early diagnosis and treatment can help you live and longer and comfortable life. Regular screening is recommended so that appropriate treatment can be given.

Asbestos Exposure And Mesothelioma Sufferers

Mesothelioma sufferers do not have to go through this alone. Having to deal with the physical, emotional, and financial issues resulting from this deadly disease is devastating. There are many support groups available for mesothelioma sufferers that can help you cope with your illness. These support groups can help you reach out to other mesothelioma sufferers. Also, to ease the stress of financial burden, you can seek monetary compensation from the companies that are at fault and exposed you to this deadly disease. If you need legal advice, you should contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney who specializes in asbestos litigation and mesothelioma lawsuits as soon as possible.

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Metastatic Lung Cancer Affects Other Body Parts

Lung cancer is strongly related to smoking. Cigarette smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, of which 43 are carcinogenic (cancer-causing). These carcinogenic compounds include carbon monoxide, tar, nicotine, arsenic, formaldehyde, etc. Other causes of the disease include radon gas, asbestos, particulate matter, and viruses. Nicotine is highly addictive, thus it can be difficult for smokers to quit their unhealthy habit, even after they are diagnosed with the disease. It becomes even worse because once a smoker has the disease, his or her remaining lifetime will be significantly short, because the survival rate of this cancer is lower than that of other cancers. The cancerous cells can also spread at a faster rate to other parts of body. And even if they don't, a sufferer will still experience breathing problems.

In most cases, metastatic lung cancer affects the liver, brains, adrenal glands and bones. To determine the extent of the cancer spread can be determined using an assessment technique known as lung cancer staging. Staging varies for the two types of the cancer, namely the Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (SCLC) and the Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC).

The SCLC staging can be classified as either limited stage or extensive stage. In the limited stage, the tumor is found in one lung or only in the lymph nodes of that lung. In the extensive stage, the tumor has spread into both lungs or other organs in the body. When the cancer has reached the latter stage, chemotherapy is usually the preferred treatment. However, the NSCLC is the most widely used staging scheme. It is divided into four stages, with stage 1 being the mildest form, and stage 4 being the most severe form. NSCLCs can also be categorized into 3 subgroups, namely adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell carcinoma. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type, accounting for 40% of all NSCLC cases. It is also the most common type of lung cancer found in non-smokers ("never-smokers").

Whether the lung cancer affects other body parts or not would depend on the cancer cell metastasis. To determine whether it has metastatized or not, doctors would use diagnostic techniques such as conventional chest radiography, computerized tomography (CT) scanning, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. Based on the test results, your doctor can determine the best treatment for you. Treatment options include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy. However, metastatic lung cancer is very difficult to treat, because the cells have spread into various parts of the body. To treat this disease, each and every cell needs to be removed, and this is not an easy thing to do.

11:49 PM | 0 komentar

Should Chest CT Be Used to Screen for Lung Cancer?

Lung malignancy is the #1 cause of cancer death in the United States. In 2011, approximately 221,130 patients (115,060 men and 106,070 women) are estimated to be diagnosed with this malignancy. An estimated 156,940 people (85,600 men and 71,340 women) will die of this disease this year. Although cigarette use has decreased, we still have in America about 94 million current or former smokers who are at increased risk of developing lung tumors.

In the past, screening high risk but asymptomatic smokers has been ineffective with chest x-ray, with or without sputum cytology. However, a new study from The National Lung Screening Trial Research Team shows that screening with low dose chest CT reduces lung tumor death by 20%, in comparison to screening with chest x-ray alone (New England Journal of Medicine, volume 365, pages 395-409, August 4, 2011). This clinical trial took place in 33 medical centers in the United States, and is funded by the National Cancer Institute.

To qualify for enrollment, the patients must have a 30 pack-year smoking history. About seven million people in the United States are in this category. For this clinical trial, 53,454 patients were enrolled between 2002 and 2004, and followed until 2009. The people were randomly assigned to chest CT or chest x-ray performed once yearly for three years. Lung tumor was discovered in 645 cases per 100,000 person-years in the CT group, in comparison to 572 in the chest x-ray group. There were 247 lung cancer deaths per 100,000 person-years in the CT group, versus 309 in the chest x-ray group. This calculates to a 20% reduction in mortality.

The bad news is that 96.4% of the abnormal chest CT findings turned out to be benign, meaning false positives. In other words, an abnormality on the CT translates into a cancer diagnosis in only 3.6% of the time. This means that many of these patients had more radiological tests done, tests that are in retrospect "unnecessary". Some people underwent needle biopsies, bronchoscopy and/or chest surgeries in order to determine whether they have a lung tumor or not. Some of these cases resulted in complications (and even deaths), as expected of invasive procedures in the chest. The group that underwent screening with chest x-rays also experienced the same problem, as 94.5% of the abnormal chest x-ray findings also turned out to be benign.

Due to this high level of false positives, chest CT is currently not yet widely recommended for routine screening for lung cancer in the asymptomatic population at large. Certainly, if you are a current or past smoker and you have any chest symptoms (cough, pain, shortness of breath, hoarseness, wheezing, fatigue, weight loss, etc.), then you should go see a health care professional, who may determine that workup with chest x-ray and chest CT is warranted.

11:44 PM | 0 komentar

Why Mesothelioma Cancer Is So Different Than Almost Every Other Type of Cancer

Virtually everybody reading this article will have heard of cancer previously. When you go to see your doctor, pretty much the last thing you want to hear, is that you have cancer. Most of us, associate it with a death sentence. Mesothelioma cancer is also a very deadly form of cancer, but in one very important sense, it is really different than almost all other types of cancer.

when a person is diagnosed with prostate cancer, in most instances, they will ask their physician how they got it. The doctor will usually reply, there are many reasons people get it, but we cannot tell you exactly how or why, you happened to come down with it. In fact, this is true with most forms of cancer today.

There is evidence starting to circulate that eating too many processed forms of foods and maintaining a western style of diet contributes to it. But, until further research is done to confirm this suspicion, it is still only a good guess.

if you were to ask almost any smoker if they knew they were risking dying prematurely and catching cancer, they would almost all tell you "yes". Then if you were to ask them why they do it, most of them would tell you that they are addicted to tobacco. At some point in their life, they made the conscious decision to start smoking.

so, if you get cancer today, you either choose to do some kind of activity that increased the possibility of you getting it. Or, the doctors pretty much have no clue why you got it, and another member of your family did not.

That is precisely where and how mesothelioma cancer is different from almost every other form of this terrifying disease. You see, the people that got it, did not get it for no reason at all. The doctors know exactly why most people contracted it. The patients that have died from it, did not choose to do something that increased their risk of coming down cancer.

The people that contracted mesothelioma cancer, as sad as this is to say, simply lacked knowledge. All that had to be done to save most of their lives was to attend a half hour training seminar on the subject, and their entire life could have been different.

most of the people that get it either work, or live in buildings constructed in the 40's or 50's. Back then there was a substance called "asbestos", which was very widely used as a construction material during this period. Simply breathing a few tiny particles of it in the air, is enough to start the disease incubating.

If you live or work in an older building, it is highly recommended that you do everything you can to learn about asbestos. You especially need to know how to recognize it, and when you do, stay as far away from it as possible. In most cases, mesothelioma cancer can be totally be prevented by never coming in contact with asbestos.

11:41 PM | 0 komentar

The Remission Of The Cancer And Mesothelioma Cell Research

The search for a cure to mesothelioma, the incurable asbestos-related cancer, continues as recently released figures show 2,000 diagnosed cases are recorded annually in the UK, and the number of deaths rose to 66.4 per million people between 2006 and 2008.

The long latency period of between 15 to 50 years before the first signs of mesothelioma or asbestosis symptoms emerge has often been a decisive factor in trying to detect the disease at an early stage in a bid to improve survival rates. In addition, asbestosis treatments involving new research into genetic / cellular behaviour and drug therapy combinations have shown promising results.

Remission has been achieved in some instances, either spontaneously or through the adoption of specialised treatment procedures. While complete remission and the disappearance of all evidence of mesothelioma cancer is rare, long-term mesothelioma survivors may be considered to be in partial remission when they are able to survive for several years after diagnosis, despite the presence of the cancer tumours.

While a surgery procedure is the most likely method, which can lead to prolonging remission, partial or complete remission has also been obtained from other therapies, including systemic chemotherapy, immunotherapy and oxygen therapy. In addition, the sustained application of palliative treatments, which involve significant dietary changes by adopting a vegetarian diet plus nutritional supplements.

Recent research suggests that the nuclei of mesothelioma cells could contain vital clues for predicting patient survival, rather than a prognosis based on the prescribed stage and severity the mesothelioma has reached. Analysis of the nuclei of cell samples was taken from a study group of over 230 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

An evaluation was then made by classification of seven determining features, including variation in appearance, pattern of DNA and proteins, extra proteins, components of the nucleus and abnormal division of the chromosomes.

Analysis of each cell sample revealed that the variation in appearance and the number of dividing cells were directly related to patient prognosis. A three-tier nuclear grade score was created from the observations. The average patient survival for Grade I - 28 months, Grade II - 14 months, and Grade III - 5 months.

The researchers concluded, "Not only was nuclear grade an independent predictor of overall survival, but it was also a stronger discriminator of survival than all currently available factors,". In addition, the nuclear grading system also proved a useful indicator when predicting time to mesothelioma recurrence in patients who underwent complete surgical resection.

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