Guidelines help people manage lung cancer

  Article date: 2002/11/12,People with lung cancer have a tool to guide them in making treatment decis

People with lung cancer have a tool to guide them in making treatment decisions.To help individuals learn more about lung cancer and therapy choices, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) released Lung Cancer Treatment Guidelines for Patients.

The ACS produced the Lung Cancer Treatment Guidelines for Patients by translating the NCCN’s Clinical Practice Guidelines, originally written for cancer doctors, into reliable, specific, and easy-to-understand materials for patients with lung cancer, their families, and caregivers.

Topics covered include types of lung cancer, tests and exams, types of treatment, clinical trials information, and a glossary of terms.
Partnering With Doctors

"The collaboration between the NCCN and the American Cancer Society provides access to patient versions of the same guidelines oncologists use to aid their decisions about appropriate treatment,” said William T. McGivney, PhD, chief executive officer of the NCCN. "Our goal is to inform and facilitate this critical decision-making process between patient and physician."

The guidelines provide people with the same decision trees used by their doctors. These flow charts represent the appropriate course of treatment for each stage of lung cancer. The charts are important in determining the most effective course of treatment, helping people take a more active role in the process with their health care providers.

"We want people with lung cancer to understand their treatment options," added Robert C. Young, MD, national volunteer president of the ACS and president of Fox Chase Cancer Center, a founding member of the NCCN. "These materials will help patients take a more active role in their own health care and guide them through the treatment decision-making process."
Patients Need Quick Access To Information

According to the ACS, there will be nearly 170,000 new cases of lung cancer this year. Smoking is the main risk factor for the disease. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, and more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.

"Lung cancer can be a devastating disease," said Rick Alteri, MD, associate medical editor for the ACS. "Depending on how far the cancer has spread, treatment options can range from surgery to radiation therapy to chemotherapy, or include some combination of these.

"People with lung cancer and those close to them already face many challenges —physically, emotionally, and financially," he added. "These guidelines can help reduce some of the confusion and anxiety that often go along with this. They explain the disease and how it is treated at the nation’s leading cancer centers."

The lung cancer guidelines are part of an informational series. Supportive guidelines include topics such as nausea and vomiting; fever and neutropenia (a decrease in infection-fighting white blood cells); cancer-related fatigue; and cancer pain. Other cancers covered in the series are prostate, breast, ovarian, lung, colon and rectum, and melanoma.

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