What To Ask Your Doctor (and Why) When You ’ ve Been Diagnosed With Lung Cancer

Heather Mannuel, MD, MBA is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a Medical Oncologist at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Below are a few questions she says to ask your doctor when you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, and why they’re important to ask. What kind of lung cancer is this? Lung cancers are divided into small cell and non-small cell types, and the treatment is very different for each of these. What is my stage? The stage helps to give information on whether the cancer is only in the lung or whether it has spread outside the lung to the lymph nodes or to other parts of the body.  This is very important in guiding the next steps of treatment. What kind of treatment is available for my kind of cancer?  Should I see a surgeon?  Should I see a radiation oncologist? Depending on what type of cancer you have and what stage your cancer is, you may benefit from surgery or radiation.  Some patients only receive one type of treatment, and others receive several types in sequence.  Your oncologist can discuss the options in detail with you. What kind of chemotherapy treats this lung cancer?  Chemotherapy is sometimes given with radiation, or it may be given alone.  Often two or more different chemotherapy drugs are combined together to treat lung cancer most effectively. What kind of side effects does the chemotherapy cause?  Although chemotherapy can cause many sympt...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Cancer Source Type: blogs