Combination Therapy May Help Lung Cancer Patients

Lung cancer remains one of the deadliest forms of this disease diagnosed in the United States. An estimated 224,000 Americans, men and women alike, will be diagnosed with the disease this year alone. Some 158,000 will die from lung cancer.

While the overall survival rate has improved courtesy of earlier interventions and more advanced treatments, this disease and its many forms has continued to present with a relatively bleak prognosis in many cases. A possible new form of treatment for those diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer and specific gene-related mutations might help improve the outlook for some. The new treatment involves the use of two experimental drugs in combination along with radiation to treat the tumors. The drugs, both used in treating melanoma and solid tumors, have shown a great deal of promise in some lung cancer cases.

Studies related to the triple therapy have so far been performed on mice. The results have been promising enough that researchers are eager to see if the combination can also help humans improve their survival chances when gene-mutations present. This particular form of non-small cell lung cancer has been resistant to other forms of treatment, but the combination suggested has shown promise.

People who are at risk for lung cancer are urged to speak with their healthcare providers. While routine screening isn’t available in quite the same way as it is for other common forms of cancer, there are tools doctors can use to find this disease early. When lung cancer is caught in its earlier stages, the chances of treatment success rise rather greatly. For those with resistant forms of non-small cell lung cancer, this new form of therapy may one day offer hope for effective treatment. Those at risk for lung cancer are also strongly encouraged to do what they can to lower risk factors, such as quitting smoking.