My father was recently diagnosed with 4th stage esophageal cancer, there are two small spots in his lungs and a small spot on his femur (the spot in his femur has not be biopsied and could be a scar from an old injury however). He also has a small tumor on the back of his eye. They are doing radiation for the large tumor I his esophagus wall/chest region 5 days a week & chemo once a week for the next 5 weeks. They have given him 2-5 years and diagnosed it as 4 th stage. Is it possible that this cancer can go into remission? It is the same genetic type of cancer as lung cancer. He is very healthy otherwise.
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Cancer is a difficult condition to treat, and its treatment is custom based on the area involved. Your father has stage 4 cancer esophagus, and it will help to know since when the cancer was first known and the treatment details thereafter. Stage 4 cancer means that the tumor in the esophagus is relatively large and is not respectable or operable. In such cases giving radiation and chemotherapy work. His condition required to be reviewed every couple of months and then the required treatment guidance to be given. Cancer cure is usually mentioned as 5 year survival. This means that if a patient of cancer can survive for 5 years after detection of cancer then the treatment has been responsive and towards cure. If the doctors have given him a 2 to 5 year survival then the disease process is under control, and it is possible that he might win his battle with cancer. It is difficult to tell at the moment that his cancer will go in to remission because it has spread to the lungs. Genetics in cancer is still a largely undiscovered area and a cancer spreading from esophagus to lung is different from one happening in the lung itself. Please do not worry.