How do you predict the likelihood of radiotherapy causing lung re-expansion in a patient with advanced or metastatic NSCLC and complete lung collapse due to obstructive tumor?

Topics: Radiation Oncology • Thoracic Malignancies

I've anecdotally been taught that RT rarely will help open up the lung, but we often will still offer a course of palliative treatment. How do you decide whether treatment is worthwhile or futile? Is there any way to maximize the benefit of RT (stent placement, tumor ablation, etc)?

Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution

This is a tough question! In situations where there is bronchial obstruction from tumor and lung collapse beyond the lesion, we are often asked to provide palliative irradiation. In those situations, I tend to think about two principles; how long has the distal lung been collapsed, and can intervent...

Comments

Radiation Oncologist at Ohio State University College of Medicine
Dr. @Jeffrey D. Bradley, in these palliative situa...

Radiation Oncologist at University of Pennsylvania Health System
Hi Dr. @Meng X. Welliver! I suppose we first need ...

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