Suggest Treatment For Stage-4 Non Small Lung Cancer

Posted on Thu, 14 May 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 14 May 2015 Answered on

Wed, 3 Jun 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 non small lung cancer which has spread to the brain with 3 tumors, in December. She went through radiation which shrunk the tumor in the lung slightly but 9 more tumors in the brain have started growing. How much longer does she have to live?

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (7 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
she may not have much time

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for your query.
I am sorry to hear about your mom. This is a difficult situation. Going by her history and heart condition with blood clot, she may not have much time left.

Is she having any EGFR or alk mutation in her tumor? Then some oral therapy is available. Otherwise probably only symptomatic treatment including decadron. Her average survival time maybe 3-6 months but this is based on my previous experience and in individual Patient can vary a lot.

Hope this helps. I will be available for follow up.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar