Welcome to the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Knowledge Centre...
Cancer is one of the major causes of death across the world and its treatment and management represents a significant challenge to the healthcare professionals who work in the field of oncology. Although lung cancer is one of the most common solid tumours, it is difficult to diagnose at an early stage. Consequently, presentation (the point at which a patient first appears with symptoms) in the clinic at a late stage is normal and this results in reduced treatment options and poor prognosis. Lung cancer is a general term that is applied to a number of different tumours that arise by different means or from different cell types in the respiratory organs.
The NSCLCs account for 80% of all lung cancers and can be further subdivided into squamous-cell carcinoma, large-cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma (which includes bronchioloalveolar-cell carcinoma [BAC]). The selection of an appropriate treatment depends on accurate assessment of the tumour type, the stage to which it has developed, and the extent to which it may have spread into surrounding (local involvement) or distant tissues (metastasis). The majority of patients present with late-stage NSCLC and, as this condition is not curable, they will require palliative treatment including chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy that aims to provide control of the tumour (prevent or delay continued growth and further spread) and improve quality of life (QoL). Many of the current chemotherapy agents work indiscriminately against all dividing cells in the body, including those of the gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow, and are therefore associated with a systemic toxicity that limits their usefulness. New therapies that specifically target the molecular processes that support cancer cell growth and spread have the potential to improve both tumour control and QoL in patients with NSCLC.
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