Is It Better To Treat A Stage Four Lung Cancer Tumor When It Is Smaller Or Larger And More Complex?

Posted on Wed, 15 Aug 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 Answered on

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : Is it better to treat a stage four lung cancer tumor when it is smaller or larger and more complex?
chemo drugs used have been gemcitobine and cisplatin until I got gemsar lung and suffer a severe shortness of breathe. the Tumors were shrinking in size. Then i was switched to 5 fluorouracil and oxalyplatin and the tumors became progeresive. Now I am on alimta and avastin. My oncologist has ordered a biopsy to see if I can use an immunotherapy approach using keytruda in a clinical study instead of chemo therapy. Is there any truth to that treating a tumor when it is smaller is more efficacious than allowing the same tumor to triple in size before treatment begins. Are blood vessels more developed and complex in the larger tumor compared to the smaller tumor. When a tumor is more complex is it harder to treat? I am stage four NSCLC adenocarcinomaThanks!

Answered by Dr. Monish De (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
When the tumor is small it is easy to treat

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

As you are suffering from stage 4 lung cancer type adenocarcinoma, your current treatment of Alimta and Avastin are on the right track and you need at least 3 cycles of it to see any results.

When the tumor is smaller in size it is obviously more easy to treat.

Role of immunotherapy in lung cancer is still under research and I'd advise you to continue with the chemotherapy.

Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee