Current treatment options in oncology
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Curr Treat Options Oncol · Feb 2004
ReviewCardiopulmonary rehabilitation after treatment for lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women and men in the United States. As of 1987, lung cancer deaths in women exceeded deaths caused by breast cancer. Despite years of research and improvements in surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiation treatments, this fact remains unchanged. ⋯ To assess the role of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation in patients with lung cancer undergoing treatment, it is necessary to meld studies regarding patients with noncancerous conditions with studies addressing rehabilitation in patients with cancer. This fusion of information demonstrates that rehabilitation results in significant improvements in QOL in patients who participate, regardless of the disease in question. Although QOL may not always have been an obvious endpoint for treating patients with lung cancer, it is apparent from studies of the patients themselves that an improved QOL is far more important than other goals of therapy.