Oncologist promotes EGFR-targeted therapy
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A leading oncology expert on July 31 urged early- and middle-stage lung cancer patients to undergo EGFR-targeted therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence and brain metastasis after surgery.
According to Lu Shun, director of the department of oncology at the Shanghai Chest Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, chemotherapy, which is the most common postoperative treatment method, may raise the five-year survival rate of early- and middle-stage lung cancer patients by only 5 percent.
Chemotherapy has also been found to have little effect in preventing recurrence and brain metastasis.
"Compared with chemotherapy, EGFR-targeted therapy boasts better precision, higher efficiency and lower toxicity. With a special mechanism, it lowers the risk of recurrence, brain metastasis and death by 80 percent and that of central nervous system relapse and death by 82 percent," he said.