According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after non-melanoma skin cancer, lung cancer is the second most common cancer for all men in the United States. In the year 2002, over 100,000 men and over 80,000 women were diagnosed with lung cancer. This disease can be quite aggressive and can progress rapidly. Roughly one-fourth of the patients diagnosed with lung cancer exhibit no symptoms of cancer even when they are diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

Some lung cancer patients are victims of asbestos exposure. The majority of these patients were exposed to asbestos decades earlier, most in their place of employment. Mesothelioma, a direct result of exposure to asbestos, is an aggressive cancer which most often settles in the lungs. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer and unfortunately there is currently no cure for this aggressive lung cancer.

Mesothelioma Lung Cancer

As the disease progresses many patients find themselves seeking more and more information and wonder about what happens in the final stages of lung cancer? Patients begin to wonder what should they look for, what symptoms will they see, what will tell them that something has changed… what will tell them they have entered the final stage of lung cancer. These are difficult conversations for both the patient and their family as well as the physician.

It is often when patients present to their healthcare provider with complaints of pneumonia, rib or shoulder pain, facial swelling, headaches and constant cough and their physician orders a chest x-ray that often a mass or tumor is found in the lungs.

A patient can be in the final stage of lung cancer before they ever seek medical treatment because the symptoms are so subtle and look so much like “something else”. Further medical testing will be performed to confirm the patient has lung cancer and to determine the exact stage of the cancer.

Small-cell lung cancer is the most aggressive form of the disease; it is also called oat-cell cancer because, its cells resemble oat grains. Like squamous cell carcinoma, this cancer usually originates in the large, central bronchi. The cancer frequently spreads (metastasizes) to the liver, bone, and brain. Although responsive to chemotherapy, small-cell lung cancer is rarely ever cured because it usually is not even discovered before it has metastasized or spread to other areas of the body.

Stage four is the final stage of lung cancer and it is the most advanced form of lung cancer. It is in this final stage of lung cancer that the cancer metastasized or invaded other areas of the body. Surgery at this stage is not likely recommended, unless it is for a relief of symptoms. However, massive quantities of chemotherapy and different combination of cancer fighting drugs are recommended to relieve some of the pain from the cancer and to possibly prolong the patient’s life span.

Many cancer patients will ask what happens during the final stages of lung cancer and it is the responsibility of the medical provider to educate the patient and their family on exactly what to expect in the final stage of lung cancer.

Symptoms such as extreme fatigue, dry mouth, shortness of breath, joint pain and often pneumonia are just a few of the symptoms which may be seen in the final stages of lung cancer. When the patient is in the final stages of lung cancer it is best to do everything possible to make the patient as comfortable as possible.

Be an advocate for the patient, ask for what you need, and work closely with the physician to find out what works best to help relieve or lessen symptoms… quality of life is an important marker of success in the final stages of lung cancer.