Elderly lung cancer patients should avoid three treatment misunderstandings

Comprehensive treatment with surgical resection as the main treatment option can be said to be the first choice for lung cancer patients. However, for some elderly lung cancer patients, due to insufficient understanding of lung cancer treatment, they are often prone to misunderstandings.

Myth 1: Surgery will hasten death

Some elderly lung cancer patients believe that surgery and anesthesia are a blow to the elderly. If too much lung tissue is removed during surgery, it will seriously affect the quality of life after surgery and accelerate death. In fact, as long as the preoperative condition assessment is done carefully, the tumor is completely removed and lung function is preserved as much as possible, surgical treatment is safe and feasible.

Myth 2: Surgery is not suitable for elderly patients

Many elderly lung cancer patients believe that they are too old to undergo surgery. In fact, whether surgery is possible depends more on the patient's physiological age rather than their actual age. As long as the patient meets the indications for lung cancer surgery, such as heart and lung function being able to tolerate surgery, surgery is completely possible.

Myth 3: Only traditional Chinese medicine is the most suitable for the elderly

It is undeniable that traditional Chinese medicine has advantages in the treatment of lung cancer, especially in improving the patient's physical fitness, increasing immunity, and improving the tolerance of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, traditional Chinese medicine is not currently used as the main treatment method. Because so far, there is no definite evidence that taking traditional Chinese medicine alone can cure lung cancer.