Lung cancer has long been one of the most challenging cancers to treat, but thanks to medical advancements, success stories are becoming increasingly common.
I have witnessed firsthand how successful cancer research has been over the years. It has allowed many advancements and innovations to treatment options, and more importantly, it’s transformed patient outcomes. As an oncologist, there is nothing more satisfying than giving good news to a patient. Telling them their cancer is cured, or under control, is one of the greatest privileges I have.
Innovative treatments such as stereotactic radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapies are vastly transforming patient outcomes.
So, what does successful treatment for lung cancer look like? As you can probably imagine, success is very different patient-to-patient. Where one patient’s idea of success is a cure, another person’s success is treatment that makes them feel more comfortable, and stops their cancer from growing.
Over the years, I’m really proud of the success stories I’ve seen in my clinic.
Stereotactic radiotherapy: A non-invasive alternative for early-stage lung cancer
A particularly inspiring case of mine, is that of an 84-year old man who had been diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer in the right lower lobe. Due to underlying heart conditions, surgery posed too great a risk, making him an ideal candidate for stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).
In the below photo, I’ve circled where the cancer was present in the patient. This was a tumour that, if left for a long period of time, could have caused significant damage to the patient’s lungs. Thankfully, early detection and a speedy treatment plan gave him a positive outcome.
Treatment Plan: Five short treatment sessions on alternate days
Side Effects: Mild fatigue but otherwise well tolerated
Outcome: One year after treatment, imaging showed no evidence of cancer, only fibrosis and scarring.
In the image below, you can see that the area surrounding the tumour has changed drastically.
To the untrained eye, the post-treatment scan might appear concerning, but in reality, it demonstrates the power of radiotherapy. The remaining lighter matter in the x-ray is scarring and the area is cancer-free. The patient avoided invasive surgery while still achieving a high likelihood of cure. He has gone on to live a much healthier life.
Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy: A new standard for resectable lung cancer
In patients who are fit for surgery, neoadjuvant (pre-surgical) treatment has revolutionised outcomes when used in carefully selected patients. One success story with a patient of mine involved a previously healthy patient with a tumour in the right upper lobe of his lung. This patient received chemoimmunotherapy before surgery, allowing the immune system to better recognise and attack the tumour.
Circled in the below image, you can see this patient’s tumour was significant in size in the right lung (left of the image) and would very much benefit from surgery.
Treatment Plan: Chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery
Surgical Outcome: The affected lung lobe was removed
Pathology Results: No remaining cancer, only evidence of white blood cells and fibrosis
This case highlights how neoadjuvant treatment enhances the curability of lung cancer. Rather than relying solely on chemotherapy post-surgery, this approach maximises the immune system’s ability to fight cancer before it spreads.
In the image above, you’ll see the significant difference that surgery and chemotherapy and immunotherapy had in this case. Again, this was concluded as a cure, and the patient now leads a healthy life with checks now and again over the next every five years.
The below image is of the lung tissue after it was removed and looked at under the microscope. As a result of the chemoimmunotherapy, there was no cancer left. The immunotherapy has stopped the cancer hiding from this patient’s immune system (cancer has a tendency to be able to stop the white blood cells doing their job, allowing the cancer to spread).
This particular case is an excellent example of cancer research being used in real-time. Where we used to perform surgery first, and then administer chemotherapy and immunotherapy afterwards, there have been far more success stories where immunotherapy and chemotherapy have been able to prevent the cancer cells from developing pre-surgery as opposed to afterwards.
The journey of a patient with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who developed brain metastases
Lung cancer treatment has seen remarkable advancements, offering new hope to patients with metastatic disease. This case highlights the journey of a patient with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who developed brain metastases but responded exceptionally well to targeted therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery.
The patient, diagnosed with EGFR-mutant NSCLC, initially responded well to treatment. However, disease progression led to the development of brain metastases.
To target the brain metastases, the patient underwent CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery, a highly precise radiation technique minimising damage to surrounding brain tissue.
The combination of targeted therapy and CyberKnife led to remarkable disease control. Follow-up scans (seen in the below images) showed significant reduction in intracranial disease burden, with the patient maintaining excellent neurological function and quality of life. He also remained on the first-line treatment for his lung cancer for a long time after this treatment – delaying the time until he needed to have chemotherapy.
Treatment Plan: Prevent further spread of disease with TKI and CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery
Outcome: Remarkable disease control
Pathology Results: Significant reduction in intracranial disease burden. This case is a testament to the power of multimodal therapy, providing patients with better outcomes and extended survival.
Metastatic lung cancer: Extending life with better quality
For patients with metastatic lung cancer, the goal is to extend a patient’s life while maintaining comfort and quality. One of the biggest wins in oncology is the ability to control cancer in multiple locations using targeted therapies and stereotactic radiation.
Key benefits include:
- Non-invasive treatments with minimal side effects
- The ability to “zap” cancer when it spreads to new areas
- Prolonged survival, even when cancer is not curable
With emerging options like DATAR testing, which analyses the genetic signature of cancer, we can personalise treatment even further, opening the door to cutting-edge drugs and therapies not yet widely available on the NHS.
So, what does success in lung cancer look like?
For early-stage cancer: Quick, effective treatment before the disease spreads
For metastatic cancer: Prolonged survival with minimal disruption to daily life
For all patients: Maximising time, comfort, and treatment effectiveness
The landscape of lung cancer treatment is changing dramatically. Whether through stereotactic radiotherapy, neoadjuvant therapies, or targeted treatments, we are seeing more patients live longer, fuller lives. While we may not always achieve a cure, we are increasingly able to control cancer, minimise suffering, and offer real hope.
Lung cancer is no longer an immediate death sentence. With the right treatments, patients are living longer, feeling better, and experiencing true success in their cancer journey.
I’m passionate about helping you find the best option for whatever you’re currently facing. For me, putting your cancer journey in my hands is a privilege I don’t take lightly. I aim to offer you the best results possible for yourself and your loved ones and understand the stress you are facing when choosing an oncologist.
If you’d like to chat through your current diagnosis to get an idea what I can offer, then please do get in touch.
Visit my website at https://drjameswilson.co.uk/ or give me a call at +44(0)2079936716
Here’s a link to my video, discussing what success in lung cancer treatment may look like, and the three examples in more detail.
When the TV drama ‘House’ was at the peak of its popularity, at least 2-3 patients a week would ask me if I knew this guy – the character, Dr James Wilson from the show.
Now, it’s only a couple of patients a month that ask, but he clearly made an impact on the audience as they still remember him despite the show finishing in 2012.
Curiosity still hasn’t got the better of me. I’ve not watched a single episode of House. But when a patient told me that I shared a lot in common with the character, I thought it at least warranted a Google.
From what I read, for the most part, I am incredibly flattered. House is a modern take on the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. They’ve been updated and relocated to a hospital setting. Wilson is the Watson to House’s Holmes. Reading the Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, I always preferred the loyal, sensitive, considered Watson to Holmes – who I always considered to be a bit flashy!
Google tells me that the fictional Dr James Wilson is compassionate and empathetic. He acts as the moral compass for the maverick, but ethically questionable House. Which are, of course, characteristics that I’m grateful to be associated with, but part of me also worries that he might be the sort of person I’d not be rushing to meet at a party.
A quick trip to YouTube put my mind at ease. Dr James Wilson also seems to be quite humorous and light-hearted, something that I hope I can be too. I’ve seen how maintaining a sense of fun has helped many of my patients – particularly when their treatment and the choices they sometimes have to make can feel difficult and heavy. I always think a person’s ability to laugh is a good indicator of how they are doing. I’ll always aim to maintain your quality of life – which must include play and fun.
I did, of course, recognise the actor who plays my namesake – Robert Sean Leonard. Though I only really know him from the late 80s classic ‘The Dead Poets Society’. I watched this again recently and enjoyed it as much as I did then. It’s become a little hackneyed, but ‘Carpe Diem’ really isn’t a bad philosophy for life. Though for whatever reason, the quote from that film that still rings in my ears is the warning that ‘Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone’ which probably gives you too much of an insight into how I differ from the Dr James Wilson from the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
I’m writing this post in a sticky, overcrowded King’s Cross train station on a wet summer Friday evening. Coming from the North East, but living and working in London means that I have spent a lot of my life either on the East Coast main line or excitedly waiting at King’s Cross to meet people when they come to visit.
For the last hour, I have been refreshing the arrivals information on my phone every couple of minutes, hoping that the train that my sister is on somehow miraculously speeds up. I know this is pointless because every time I refresh it there’s an extra few minutes added to the already delayed arrival time.
It’s really easy to bash the trains and just complain about how they always let us down, but when I look behind my annoyance I see there’s a lovely reason for me getting cross or annoyed. The reason I’m here is because I’m excited about seeing people that I love, miss, and care about. I’m always genuinely touched that they’ve made the effort to come down to see me and spend their weekends with me. It’s these things that make life fun and make us feel connected and valued.
Alternatively, I’ve got a more serious reason for travelling. It might be that a member of my family is unwell, and I need to get up to see them quickly both to put my mind at rest and to offer any help that I can. So, when I’m delayed in those situations I feel my heartrate go up and I spend the whole journey sitting on the edge of my seat, willing the train to speed up, tapping my watch and turning down the offer of drinks from the refreshment trolley.
This same anxiety and frustration is something that I see in patients sitting in a waiting room. There must be nothing worse than waiting to see your oncologist to get the results of your most recent scan and constantly being told that they’re running late.
The joy of my private clinic is that this just doesn’t happen. I’m able to schedule the appointments to give the amount of time that each patient needs. There’s no double booking. There’s no rushing to finish up other tasks when I should be in clinic. The time is set aside for us to have a proper conversation. It also means that when we meet, we know how long we have, we’re as relaxed as we can be, and I can get to you at the time that I say I get to you. It’s very rare for me to have to change these times and when that does happen, I will be having personal communication with you long before the event to reduce any anxieties or confusion. I won’t be telling you that I haven’t got your recent results because they’ve not been reported – I’ve had plenty of time to prepare for our meeting so we can make the best use of your time. I can also give you written copies of your results and a record of our consultation on the same day, so there’s no waiting around for that.
The maxim that the best things in life comes to those who wait may by true – but not when it comes to train journeys or seeing your oncologist.