Lung Cancer Stage 4

Stage 4 lung cancer is an advanced lung cancer with lots of important information to learn.

Lung cancer stage 4 means that the lung cancer has spread to distant areas in the body. It means that the lung cancer is no longer in the lungs and is what doctors call "metastatic". The cancer is very difficult to treat when it has become lung cancer stage 4. The treatment must involve the entire body so that it can get to the furthest reaches of the body and kill the cancer cells.

Lung cancer stage 4 usually means the cancer has spread to the opposite lung, the brain, the bones, the liver or the adrenal glands. It often spreads to several of these areas at once. The symptoms you experience depend on where the lung cancer stage 4 has spread to. Lung cancer stage 4 is the only type of lung cancer that has spread to other body areas.

Lung cancer spreads differently depending on the type of cancer.

The type of cancer most likely to spread to other body areas is small cell cancer of the lung. This is a type of cancer that occurs usually in the upper parts of the lungs and is often found to have spread to other body areas by the time it is first discovered. Non-small cell cancer comes in several types and is less likely to spread to other body areas. Both types of lung cancer are very difficult to treat once they have spread to other body areas.

Non-small cell cancers that can spread to other body areas and become stage 4 lung cancer include squamous cell cancer that occurs in the central parts of the lung, adenocarcinoma, which happens in the outer part of the lungs and large-cell undifferentiated lung cancer, which is a very angry type of cancer that spreads easily to other body areas.

Stage 4 lung cancer treatments are unique to the stage.

The stage 4 lung cancer treatments depend on where the cancer has spread. If it has spread to just one body area or just a couple of body areas, the treatment involves doing surgery to remove the cancer in the lungs, chemotherapy and radiation to the areas involved in cancer. Radiation can be to an area of the bone or to the liver, as well as to the primary area of cancer. This doesn’t work if the cancer has spread to many body areas. It would be impossible to treat many body areas at once.

Stage 4 lung cancer involves the last stages of lung cancer. It is when the cancer is the most severe. Doctors also treat it with chemotherapy. In chemotherapy, medicines damage and kill rapidly growing cells. Cancer cells are rapidly growing and are killed more than other body cells. Chemotherapy can shrink cancer areas and can, in some cases, cure the cancer. Chemotherapy has many side effects, however, and makes a person lose their hair and suffer from vomiting and nausea during the time of treatment

Very few people survive stage 4 lung cancer treatments, even with the best and safest treatment. You need to face the chance that you could die from lung cancer and get your affairs in order.

Even though your chances are poor, it is still a good idea to go through stage 4 lung cancer treatment in order to prolong your life as long as possible. These treatments include surgery to remove the largest cancer areas, chemotherapy to kill cancer cells throughout your body and radiation. Radiation is directed at larger cancer areas in order to use the radiation to kill the cancer cells in a small area. You will likely have treatment in all of these areas if you have lung cancer stage 4.

Written by Dr. Christine Traxler
6 20 09
Reviewed by Susan McCracken
6 26 09