Hello, my mother (53 yo, ex-smoker) was diagnosed with lung cancer last summer. She had surgery(left lung lobectomy). The biopsy revealed lung adenocarcinoma , without lymph node involvement and only localized damage. All post surgery ct did not reveal any problems to other organs or the brain. Yesterday she had a brain CT which revealed a 18mm tumor in the left bregmatic area of the brain and was advised to do radiaton therapy which we booked for thursday. Is there any chance for long term survival?
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Presence of a tumor spread. In the brain in a patient with lung cancer is stage 4 cancer. Such a case can have a survival of up to 2 years after detection. However, the tumor has been detected in early stage in the brain, and therefore it is possible that with aggressive treatment and radiation the tumor cells can be completely destroyed, and she can survive even for 5 years or more. Please discuss in detail with your doctors and if required then gamma knife treatment and chemotherapy can also be given to completely eradicate the tumor in the brain. The tumor measures 18 mm and is small and can be managed right now. Please do not worry.