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Prevention of reccurrance of lung cancer What is this ?

 
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petersimon
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Joined: 18 Feb 2008
Posts: 3
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:14 pm    Post subject: Prevention of reccurrance of lung cancer Reply with quote
I have heard of people taking Tarceva as a prevention of reccurance of lung cancer. I have also heard that radiation to the neck and brain helps to prevent metastisis to those areas. Does anybody here have any experience with or knowledge of preventative measures, specifically for lung cancer? I'd like to find out more so I can bring it up to my oncologist, who hasn't mentioned anything. My situation is as follows:

Age: 63, heavy smoker for 35 years, quit ten years ago. 5 cm, Stage IIIA, non-operable NSCLC tumor in upper right lobe, impinging on trachea. Diagnosed Nov. 2006. 7 weeks daily high energy radiation, weekly carboplatin infusion + 3 high-dose chemo infusions over 9 week period following. Completed May 2007. Two biopsies show me cancer free 9 months later. PET/CT scan shows small amount of "activity," most likely radiation damage. Affected lobe permanently collapsed.

Thanks for any information.
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pbj11
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Joined: 12 May 2007
Posts: 1265
PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:19 pm    Post subject: Re: Prevention of reccurrance of lung cancer Reply with quote
Peter,

I'm very sorry about the fight you have on your hands. Sounds like you are doing well and IIIA is potentially a winner for you!

I don't believe Tarceva is used in the preventative setting and they won't radiate something that isn't there. They will do WBR or PCI (two different types of brain radiation), but only for people with SCLC. It is a known fact that SCLC runs to the brain quickly, so they will do PCI for that. This may be what you have heard about. Doesn't apply to NSCLC, unless you have already defined mets to the brain. Two different animals.

You can read up on a lot of these issues at a website called onctalk.com. Dr. West is an oncologist with a specialty in lung cancer who provides a lot of articles and Q & A for people. Do some searches on his site for this info. He usually has the latest info in town.

Good luck on your journey.

PBJ
_________________
Husband diagnosed with NSCLC Stage IV. (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer) Fought & lived 2 1/2 years with multiple lines of treatment.

Post describing our battle: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=7026&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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