Doctors warn of bone spreading risk among lung cancer patients

Local medical experts are reminding lung cancer patients to pay attention to the risk of bone spreading, urging them to pay regular visits to hospital so that it can be detected and treated in time.

Experts from the Shanghai Cancer Center received a lung cancer patient, who had surgery in his home town last year. He underwent regular screening every three months and the bone spread was detected last month.

Despite the difficulty in traveling due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the patient came to the hospital for consultation.

Dr Chen Haiquan of the center said that about 30 percent to 40 percent patients with non-small-cell lung cancer can suffer bone spreading.

"Whether to go in for targeted therapy or radiation can be decided after discussing and reviewing the patient's condition," said Chen, who organized a multidisciplinary discussion with experts from different departments.

"After checking the patient's physical condition, symptoms and gene reports, we decided to offer targeted therapy," Chen revealed. "Individualized treatment is important for a patient's long-time survival."