doctors used new methods of treatment

In the USA, a woman got rid of lung cancer thanks to new treatment methods

Denise Lee

In the American state of Michigan, 62-year-old Denise Lee overcame lung cancer thanks to new methods of treatment. Treatment lasted 6 years.

In the past, the woman was an avid smoker, informs NPR.

Lee tried her first cigarette at the age of 14 with her school friends. At that time, she had no idea that her nicotine addiction would last more than 40 years.

“There was a period when I smoked up to 2.5 packs during the day,” – remembers the American woman.

When the woman was 55 years old, an anti-smoking ad featuring a black woman caught her attention on the street. Ultimately, this prompted Lee to have her lungs checked.

The results of computer tomography revealed a malignant tumor in the woman at an early stage.

“It was the hardest thing to tell my mother about my diagnosis, because it was my father who died of oncology”, – remembers Lee.

Denise underwent surgery using a new treatment method and removed a 5-centimeter tumor from her lung.

According to Virginia Commonwealth University lung cancer specialist Robert Winn, the main difference of the new method is the ability to better identify mutations of a specific form of cancer in a patient.

In addition, earlier during operations, blunt instruments were used, which caused a lot of collateral damage to healthy parts of the body, says the doctor.

“We’ve moved to the molecular level of treating each specific type of lung cancer, and that’s been a turning point“, Winn notes.

One of the newest methods of treatment is targeted therapy – targeted impact on cancer cells carried out at the molecular level.

Scientists identify genetic biomarkers in mutated cancer cells to target, then deliver drugs that attack those targets, shrinking the tumor.

Another is immunotherapywhich is usually taken in pill form, stimulates the body’s own immune system to identify the foreign cells and then uses its own immune system powers to fight the cancer as it would a virus.

It is noted that as scientists discover new cancer genes, they create an increasingly wide range of these drugs.

Over the past 5 years, the latest treatment methods have increased the number of patients who managed to be cured by 22%.

Also, new methods in some cases can help cure cancer in the later stages, added Jeffrey Young, a surgeon from the Massachusetts Chi-Fu Hospital.

Doctors urge to check the body for the presence of malignant tumors annually. This especially applies to smokers who follow the bad habit for 20 years or more.

We used to reportedthat the American regulator approved the combined drug therapy Rybrevant for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and a mutation in the EGFR protein that causes rapid tumor growth.

Studies have shown that this drug in combination with chemotherapy reduces the risk of disease progression or death 61% compared to treatment with “chemistry” alone.

We will remind that scientists investigatedwhen it is better to quit smoking and how it affects the development of cancer.