Lung cancer surgery improves quality of life
January 30th, 2008
Surgery for lung cancer can have a substantial impact on long-term, health-related quality of life, the results of a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest.
At 10:56 pm on February 24th, 2008 Gregory D. Pawelski said:
Why Surgery?
Some researchers believe the reason for better survival for patients who could undergo complete resection without any tumor left behind is that these tumors are biologically less aggressive and would do better regardless of the type of treatment they receive, and that the removal of lymph nodes at the time of surgery may additionally contribute to a better outcome.
Surgery is an integral part of the multimodality treatment of many cancers.
The line of reasoning frequently used to explain the value of surgery included five points.
First, surgery is thought to remove resistant clones of tumor cells and thus decrease the likelihood of the early onset of drug resistance.
Second, the removal of large masses likely to be associated with poorly vascularized areas of tumor improves the probability of delivering adequate drug doses to the remaining cancer cells.
Third, the higher growth fraction in better vascularized small masses enhanced the effect of chemotherapy.
Fourth, smaller masses required fewer cycles of chemotherapy and thus decreased the likelihood of drug resistance.
Fifth, removal of bulky disease enhances the immune system. Patients who present with a large mass are suffering because of that mass and they need that tumor out to relieve symptoms and to save life due to symptoms. It’s important to deal with the bulk.
Sources:
Mayo Clinic
American Board of Surgeons
Society of Surgical Oncology