Lung cancer has metastasised

bboomer147
bboomer147 Member Posts: 3
in Lung Cancer #1

A friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer which has now spread to his stomach and throat. Lung is stage 4, I do not know about stage of other areas. He is being treated with chemo only. Why would this be the only treatment? Also, if stahge 4 in lungs, does this mean same stage in other areas?

Comments

  • jorola
    jorola Member Posts: 243 Member
    #2
    The cancer is always based on the primary cancer

    The primary cancer of course being where it started - in your friend's case the lungs. So yes he is stage 4. Radiation works on targeted areas. When it has spread like your friend's they will do chemo first in hope to kill/shrink the tumors and if successful then do radiation. They will not do full body radiation. Also some areas of the body cannot handle radiation although to be honest I am unsure if the throat and stomach are among those areas. As you did not mention if your friend has small cell or non small cell I will just send you this general link to info on lung cancer. It is an excellent resource to help you understand their condition better. However it is very important to find out if they have small or non small cell as the two are very different.

    https://www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-cancer.html

     

  • bboomer147
    bboomer147 Member Posts: 3
    edited August 2018 #3
    jorola said:

    The cancer is always based on the primary cancer

    The primary cancer of course being where it started - in your friend's case the lungs. So yes he is stage 4. Radiation works on targeted areas. When it has spread like your friend's they will do chemo first in hope to kill/shrink the tumors and if successful then do radiation. They will not do full body radiation. Also some areas of the body cannot handle radiation although to be honest I am unsure if the throat and stomach are among those areas. As you did not mention if your friend has small cell or non small cell I will just send you this general link to info on lung cancer. It is an excellent resource to help you understand their condition better. However it is very important to find out if they have small or non small cell as the two are very different.

    https://www.cancer.org/cancer/lung-cancer.html

     

    lung cancer

    Thank you for your response, unfortunately, I do not know if small cell or non cell. I just don't know what to expect , if he has little time left or how much. I'm in the dark on a lot of this.

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