| A new European study found that after the initial | | | | five-year survival rate was 15.7 percent for those |
| treatment for chemotherapy, radiation treatment | | | | who had surgery compared with 14 percent for |
| may be a better solution than surgery for patients | | | | those treated with radiation. While the survival rates |
| suffering from advanced non-small cell lung cancer. | | | | were similar, radiation was the preferred treatment |
| Non-small lung cancer accounts for about 80 percent | | | | because of its lower rates of complications and |
| of all lung cancer cases reported. | | | | death." |
| The new study was reported in the Journal of the | | | | The study's authors wrote, "these results are |
| National Cancer Institute, examined 579 patients | | | | important, because several centers routinely use |
| suffering from late stage, non-small lung cancer that | | | | chemotherapy followed by surgery to treat patients |
| had advanced to the point where surgery could not | | | | with this stage of disease based on small randomized |
| effectively remove all of the cancer. All of the | | | | studies that showed that surgery alone in inferior to |
| patients had received three cycles of chemotherapy. | | | | chemotherapy and surgery in stage IIIA patients." |
| After chemo, 165 received radiation treatment and | | | | For more related articles or to subscribe to our feed |
| 167 received surgery for the remaining cancer. On | | | | please visit this Consumer Advocacy website for |
| average, the patients receiving the radiation survived | | | | more information on ordering from an online no |
| 17.5 months compared to 16.4 months for those who | | | | prescription pharmacy. |
| received the surgery. According to HealthDay, "the | | | | |