What are the chances of survival with stage IV lung cancer?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am asking about my father, he is 62 and was recently diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer after a CT and PET scan showed spread to bones and the adrenal gland. He has started chemo with Carboplatin and Pemetrexed, and the oncologist also mentioned adding Keytruda depending on reports.

Some days his breathing is better, other days he feels very weak and tired, so it is confusing for us. We keep searching on the internet, but every site says different things.

What are the chances of survival with stage IV lung cancer?
Does this mainly depend on how well these drugs work for him, or do age and general health also play a big role?

Please suggest.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

I wish you good health, and I wish your father a speedy recovery. I understand that you are searching and reading about survival and management for your father's condition.

Since he has stage four lung cancer, we expect that his general condition may not be the best, but we try to give chemotherapy together with targeted therapy, and according to his body's response to treatment, we decide whether to continue treatment.

If we find that chemotherapy is causing many serious complications and his general condition cannot tolerate it, we may continue with targeted therapy or immunotherapy. It is very important at this stage to provide supportive care, including everything, meaning if there is a bone metastasis.

We give radiotherapy to the painful bone. We must provide pain management and give him painkillers; he also needs emotional support from you. He needs good nutrition, eating fruits and vegetables, and drinking plenty of water. All these things improve his general condition, but the appropriate treatment must be determined after we start medications one by one, meaning.

We use chemotherapy, then we evaluate targeted therapy, then immunotherapy, and each of them has a different response depending on the body and the general condition, while age and tumor characteristics also vary from one person to another.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Do follow up with me after seven days.

Thank you.