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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Is The Treatment Of Lung Cancer In Stage 4 ?

My mother, age 78, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, in both lungs, stage four. She lives out of state and her children have just recently come to her aide. we noticed the club fingers right away and learned of their relation to lung cancer. We wonder how long such clubbing takes to produce that effect. She has smoked for 65 years regualrly, and a lot. She is coughing a lot and has significant weight loss. What benefit will a biopsy possibly provide? Us adult children are concerned the procedure is not worth the risk of a possible punctured lung and or introducing oxygen into the cancer. She also has myasenya gravis (my incorrectspelling is phoenetic) since she was 30. What may a biospy tell us that we need to know?
Tue, 26 Aug 2014
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Oncologist 's  Response
Hi

Your mother is suffering from stage 4 lung cancer.
She needs to do biopsy from the space occupying lesion in her scan to know the subtype of lung cancer she is suffering from.
Choice of palliative chemotherapy will depend on the subtype of cancer and biopsy will also help to do EGFR and ALK mutation test which if found to be positive then oral chemotherapy like erlotinib and crizotinib with lesser side effects will work and will help her keep her disease under control.

Regards
DR De
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What Is The Treatment Of Lung Cancer In Stage 4 ?

Hi Your mother is suffering from stage 4 lung cancer. She needs to do biopsy from the space occupying lesion in her scan to know the subtype of lung cancer she is suffering from. Choice of palliative chemotherapy will depend on the subtype of cancer and biopsy will also help to do EGFR and ALK mutation test which if found to be positive then oral chemotherapy like erlotinib and crizotinib with lesser side effects will work and will help her keep her disease under control. Regards DR De