Dr. Khuri Discusses Survivorship in Lung Cancer Patients

Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, professor, chair, hematology/medical oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, deputy director, Winship Cancer Institute, discusses survivorship in lung cancer.

Khuri says one of the most exciting things that has happened in the last decade is that survivorship in lung cancer is being discussed. In the past, chemotherapy was not yet standard for advanced or metastatic disease and was purely experimental.

Now, patients are living longer and there are different treatments available to patients. Because of this, physicians need to manage complications that are influencing the patients’ quality of life and survival.

One of these side effects is pleural effusions: a buildup of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity. Khuri and colleagues found that although there were no definitive answers as to the best way to treat pleural effusions, if physicians treat the patient early, survival is extended with fewer complications.