Stage 4 lung cancer radiotherapy

Does anyone have any experience of having radiotherapy at Stage 4 ? Just wondering about side effects but mainly how successful was it ? It's for the abdomen area . Any thoughts /experiences welcome please .

Thanks, Jan .

[jillygirl]

Hi Godfrey, Sorry I cant help you with this question, but have you tried the Cancer research site as they seem to have various cancers on there rather than limiting it to lung cancer.

[Kittypaws]

Hi Geoffrey - you say its for the abdomen area - is this related to the lung cancer or has it spread? All I can go on is my partner Colin who did have radiotherapy at Stage 4 to the head and chest - but his was palliative and extended his life by about 12 months - but everyone is different as you will see from this site.

[Hidden]

Hello , yes it's lung cancer which has spread. He has had his right lung removed, then chemo, then it spread to his adrenal gland and they took that and the kidney out too . Now it is in a nodule in the abdomen area .

[sergpro]

I have had 6 weeks of radiotherapy and small dose of chemotherapy (carbotaxol 300mg) in July on my main tumour in the lung, and some metastases in lymph nodes and rib. Whilst the radiotheraoy helped the small sites, it did nothing to the main tumour except cause my entire right lung, all three lobes, to collapse under radiation scarring. The scarring is irreversible and the lung will never open. What this means in practice is that I now have regular infections from all the fluids that build up in the non aerated lobes and require IV antibiotics with a 5-7 day stay in hospital at least once a month. I would love to take the lung out as it is useless and actually now causing more problems than had it just been full of tumour, but I am not strong enough for the operation.

So consider your options. My tumour took up the entire right lung and some mediastinum. It was a large area to radiate, and maybe this is why it didn't work.

Radiotherapy itself is quite easy although I had a strangely bad reaction to it 1 week after the end, with extreme 10/10 pleural pain thanks to what the doctors thought was acute radiation pneumonitis.

Take care.

[Hidden]

Thank you for your replies . My husband coped fine with the radiotherapy treatments, much better than how he had been with chemo which made him ill . Won't know what effect it has had until he has a scan .