Lung cancer detected after two weeks of chest pain

Hanoi Female patient, 44 years old, went to the doctor due to difficulty breathing, dull left chest pain for two weeks, examination discovered metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

At the beginning of the year, the patient had left chest pain, difficulty breathing, and increasing fatigue. The patient lost 4 kg despite eating normally. She went to the lung hospital for examination and discovered a tumor in the right lung. An endoscopic bronchial biopsy diagnosed adenocarcinoma. Due to difficulty breathing, severe chest pain, and severe pericardial effusion, the patient was transferred to the Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Center, Bach Mai Hospital for pericardial effusion drainage.

For treatment, doctors used a combination regimen of chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs, in a 21-day cycle. "After three cycles, the patient no longer had difficulty breathing, no leg swelling, and other tests were within normal limits," said Dr. Pham Cam Phuong, Director of the Center, on May 26.

After 6 cycles of chemotherapy, the lung tumor decreased in size, the mediastinal lymph nodes disappeared, and the liver metastasis lesions and liver parenchymal nodules decreased. The patient did not experience any significant side effects during treatment. However, due to late-stage disease detection and metastasis to multiple organs, the patient only responded partially to treatment and needed to continue to adhere to the regimen for a prolonged period.

CT scan of the patient's abdomen before intervention. Photo: Provided by the hospital — CT scan of the patient's abdomen before intervention. Photo: *Provided by the hospital*

According to the Global Cancer Organization (GLOBOCAN), lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the world (accounting for 11.4%) with about 2.2 million new cases in 2020. Lung cancer mortality is the highest of all cancers, with nearly 1.8 million deaths in the year.

Lung cancer is divided into two main types: small cell lung cancer, accounting for 15%, and non-small cell lung cancer, 85%. Of which, non-small cell lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in Vietnam, ranking second in incidence and mortality (after liver cancer).

Early stage non-small cell lung cancer has a high cure rate, 92% 5-year survival if the tumor is less than 1 cm in size, 1% 5-year survival if distant metastasis. However, most patients often go to the hospital when the disease is in the late stage (stage III, IV).

Currently, early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer is still a big challenge for doctors. High-risk groups such as people over 50 years old, people who have smoked for many years; people who work in environments exposed to toxic chemicals, radioactive substances or have many people in their family with cancer..., need regular health check-ups to prevent the disease.

Minh An

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