Lung Cancer

male patient, age 63: Having previously received radiation treatments and chemotherapy for lung cancer, this patient was a good candidate for stereotactic body radiosurgery when his cancer returned.  When he was first diagnosed with a 5cm tumor in the right lung, The patient underwent a conventional treatment plan of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Two years later, he developed an additional lung cancer in the right lower lung and underwent 18 months of chemotherapy.  Unfortunately, the tumor began to grow again, and the patient investigated other treatment options.

Learning about stereotactic body radiosurgery, the patient came to Cancer Treatment Group.  His treatment plan included receiving a total of five treatments given every other day over a two-week period.  During his treatment, he had no side effects and, six months later, he showed no signs of the cancer returning.

male patient, age 63: Told he had no option other than Hospice, the patient searched the Web for help in ridding his body of the metastatic (cancer spread from one part of the body to another) melanomas that were threatening his life.

He was first diagnosed with a melanoma in 2000, and it was surgically removed.  He developed another melanoma of his scalp three years later, and it too was surgically removed.  Then, in 2005, he developed a lung tumor, which was consistent with metastatic melanoma.  Surgery successfully removed the tumor from his lung. However, one year later he presented with a left adrenal metastatic melanoma and three brain tumors from metastatic melanoma.

Told by his local medical team in Michigan that all treatment options had been exhausted, the patient found information about stereotactic radiosurgery on Cancer Treatment Group’s website.  He came to Cancer Treatment Group’s facility at the Methodist Hospitals Southlake campus, and his options for treatment were discussed.

The patient underwent one stereotactic radiosurgery treatment to each of his three brain tumors and, shortly thereafter, he had three stereotactic radiosurgery treatments to his left adrenal tumor.  He tolerated all of the treatments very well and had no side effects.  While successful in treating these metastatic melanomas, the patient did develop another metastatic deposit in the right adrenal gland and will again be treated with stereotactic radiosurgery.

female patient, age 58: The patient’s disease history began in 2003 when a routine check-up uncovered three separate lung tumors.  Each tumor was biopsied and found to be non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Surgery removed one of the tumors, and multiple cycles of chemotherapy were used to treat the other two tumors.  The chemotherapy created only a slight change in the size of the tumors.  Surgery to remove these tumors was not an option because of the serious risk of complications including permanent shortness of breath, permanent oxygen dependency or, even worse, restriction to a ventilator.

Her multiple, small-cell carcinomas made the patient a good candidate for stereotactic body radiosurgery. She was sent to Cancer Treatment Group for an evaluation, and a treatment plan was developed.  In 2005, she received three treatments to the two lesions, and she remains cancer free today.

female patient, age 81: When the patient was diagnosed with non-small cell lung carcinoma in 2004, many of the doctors with whom she consulted strongly encouraged her to have surgery.  But, she realized that surgery to remove the 4.5 cm x 3.2 cm mass in her left lung posed numerous risks.  She correctly understood that a thoracotomy (a surgical incision made in the chest wall) would be painful, and it could even cause death in someone her age.

Learning about stereotactic body radiosurgery, the patient came to Cancer Treatment Group for a consultation.  Deemed a good candidate, she underwent three treatments of stereotactic radiosurgery in 2004.  She suffered no side effect, no ill effects from the treatment, and she has been cancer free ever since.

male patient, age 88: When the patient went to the emergency room because he was coughing up blood, a chest x-ray unveiled the cause to be a small tumor on his right lung. A CT scan confirmed he had a 2.2 cm tumor, and a biopsy showed it was cancerous.

The patient’s primary care physician felt he was too elderly for surgery, and he would likely have serious long-term ill effects.  Surgery also presented the possibility of death to a man his age.

When the patient’s physician contacted Cancer Treatment Group about an alternative to surgery, it was decided that the lung tumor would be well suited to stereotactic radiosurgery.

In 2004, the patient underwent the procedure that consisted of three treatments.  Suffering no side effects and no long-term ill effects, he remains cancer free and continues to pursue his hobby of lifting weights three times a week.

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