Cancer

Lung cancer is maybe the most widely spread type of cancer in the whole world. It affects both men and women and it is also among the most dangerous diseases, as the mortality rate is pretty high and this is the cancer that causes the most number of deaths. If in the past, I mean about twenty years ago or so men were more likely to have lung cancer, today the feminine patients have increased in number, too, the main cause being the fact that they started smoking, too.If normally the factor that triggered the cancer to appear is not known, in lung cancer more than 90% of the cases are caused by smoking. So this is the most serious risk factor.

Because lungs are vital for people's survival, if they are affected in some way like having a tumour inside affects the quality of life and the patient experiences short breath and difficulty breathing. If the tumour is big in size and it is removed, the surgeon is also forced to cut a part of the lung, a big part around the tumour, so it's very difficult to treat this kind of cancer. Treatment includes surgery , chemotherapy, radiotherapy and laser therapy.



Chemotherapy is that kind of treatment that deals with the drugs used for lung cancer. It is a systemic treatment, that is it uses medication to try to kill the cancer cells all over the body, not only locally. That is why it is used in stages three and four of cancer. There is no miraculous potion or recipe to use for all patients , but each has their own medication, a drug coktail prescribed by the oncologist doctor depending on the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed, the reaction of the tumour and of the whole body to medication and , of course, on the patient's tolerance of certain drugs.



There are lots of different types of drugs used for lung cancer and if you are curious you can find really comprehensive lists available on the internet. Just search "drugs used for lung cancer and you will see more results. The names of some drugs may differ depending on the producing company, even if the active substance is the same.

Normally these drugs are used in combinations and after a long experience the doctors already know which are the best ones: EP Cisplatin with etoposide, Carboplatin with etoposide; CAV - cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and vincristine, CAV and etoposide. So if these were the best combinations, here are the most commonly used drugs: Ifosfamide, Mitomycin, Vinorelbine, Cisplatin,Gemcitabine, Paclitaxel, Topotecan, Etoposide, Doxorubicin and many others.

All these drugs have better or worse effects depending on the patient, but they are all produced with the hope that they will help people who are sick to get better. And even if there is a wide variety of such drugs already on the market, researchers still continue to try to find better and better formulas for drugs with more powerful effects, drugs that will hopefully cure cancer one day.

Now what is your opinion, which of these drugs is the best ?