Abstract
The current paradigm is that untreated lung cancer is invariably and rapidly fatal, therefore the medical community normally dismisses the idea that a patient could live with such a disease for years without any therapy.
然而,来自肺癌筛查研究和最近临床系列的证据表明,尽管在常规实践中很少认可,但生长缓慢的肺癌确实存在,并且比以前想象的更常见。
Here, current evidence is reviewed and clinical cases are illustrated to show that slow-growing lung cancer is a real clinical entity, and the reasons why management protocols developed in the screening setting may also be useful in clinical practice are discussed. Features suggesting that a lung cancer may be slow-growing are described and appraised, areas of uncertainty are examined, modern management options for early-stage disease are evaluated and the influence that all this knowledge might have on our clinical decision-making is weighed. Further research directed at developing appropriate guidelines for these peculiar but increasingly common patients is warranted.
Abstract
The increasingly common incidence of slow-growing lung cancer and its influence on clinical decision-making is discussedhttp://ow.ly/oZ6c2
Footnotes
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Conflict of interest: None declared.
- 已收到November 16, 2012.
- AcceptedApril 22, 2013.
- ©ERS 2013