Related Resources
Transcript
When you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer, it’s common to feel uncertain about what comes next. The question for many patients is: Which treatment is right for me?
Since not all lung cancer is the same, in-depth testing can help doctors learn more about your cancer, how it may behave, and whether it has spread. This information can help your healthcare team choose the best therapy plan for you.
These tests may include imaging tests that show where cancer is in the body, biomarker testing that looks at the tumor for specific changes, and additional testing to assess your organ function and overall health.
Together, the results help the healthcare team better understand the cancer and personalize a treatment plan.
Advanced imaging plays a key role in lung cancer care. CT scans, PET scans, and MRI scans, can help doctors see the size and location of tumors and identify if the cancer has spread. This information helps determine the stage of the cancer. Knowing the stage is important because it can affect treatment options and what to expect moving forward.
Because lung cancer can spread to the brain, additional imaging tests such as MRI or CT scan may be performed to check the brain for any metastases.
Next is biomarker testing, which looks for changes in the tumor’s DNA and for certain proteins that may be helping the cancer grow. These tests can identify specific biomarkers that may be driving the cancer, which can indicate if a patient may benefit from certain therapies.
For example, the presence of an ALK mutation or an EGFR mutation may indicate that a patient will respond to a targeted therapy. For many patients, biomarker test results play a key role in guiding care and treatment decisions.
In some cases, a pulmonary function test may be required to determine lung capacity and function, providing valuable information about the patient’s lung health – particularly if surgery or radiation is being considered for treatment.
The results of all of these tests can help predict how aggressive the cancer may be and, importantly, whether targeted therapies or immunotherapies may be effective.
So how can you ensure you have had all appropriate testing? Ask your doctor:
- What type of imaging tests did I have, and what did they reveal?
- Do the test results impact my treatment options?
- Have I had comprehensive testing, including biomarker testing?
- Were any actionable mutations identified in my tumor?
- And, Is there an immunotherapy option or targeted therapy approach that may work for me?
Managing lung cancer can be complex—but in-depth testing can open the door to more precise, personalized treatment options. Visit powerfulpatients.org/lung-cancer to learn about more tools for self-advocacy.