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What Are The Chances Of Lung Cancer Remission?
Question: My mother in law was diagnosed with inoperable, limited stage, sclc in Oct 2015. She was treated with chemo and radiation. Her last scan showed no tumors, a complete cure! How often does this occur and how likely is it that the cancer will re-occur?
Brief Answer:
Considerations
Detailed Answer:
hello and thank you for sending the question.
I'm glad to hear that your mother in law is now in a complete remission from her small cell lung cancer. In patients who have limited stage disease, chemotherapy and radiation given together can lead to excellent disease response in up to 80% of patients. Statistics generally show that up to 25 percent of limited stage patients can achieve a long-term cure. The fact that your mother-in-law has no evidence of cancer on the follow-up scan is very encouraging. Her doctor may consider repeating another scan in several months to document continued remission.
What is very important in patients similar to your mother-in-law is that they continue to follow up with their oncologist for physical examinations and interval imaging studies to survey for possible recurrence of the disease.
thank you again for sending the question.
Sincerely,
Dr. Galamaga
Considerations
Detailed Answer:
hello and thank you for sending the question.
I'm glad to hear that your mother in law is now in a complete remission from her small cell lung cancer. In patients who have limited stage disease, chemotherapy and radiation given together can lead to excellent disease response in up to 80% of patients. Statistics generally show that up to 25 percent of limited stage patients can achieve a long-term cure. The fact that your mother-in-law has no evidence of cancer on the follow-up scan is very encouraging. Her doctor may consider repeating another scan in several months to document continued remission.
What is very important in patients similar to your mother-in-law is that they continue to follow up with their oncologist for physical examinations and interval imaging studies to survey for possible recurrence of the disease.
thank you again for sending the question.
Sincerely,
Dr. Galamaga
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Naveen Kumar
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