ALK Positive Lung Cancer Treatment; ALK Inhibitors Are Effective For Advanced ALK-Positive NSCLC
Some lung cancers involve a gene mutations that affect how quickly the cancer grows. The ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) mutation is one of those gene changes. ALK positive lung cancer treatment is used for people suffering from lung cancer with ALK mutation. Among the many different mutations, the ALK is one of the more treatable mutation as it often responds dramatically to targeted therapy. It responds very well to a group of targeted drugs called ALK inhibitors. Chemotherapy and other drugs also work against ALK positive lung cancer. ALK positive lung cancer occurs mainly in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Around 5% of people with NSCLC have the ALK-positive kind. Worldwide, ALK-positive lung cancer causes around 72,000 new cases of lung cancer and 64,000 deaths each year. Stage IV is the most advanced stage, which means the disease has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the brain and bones. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the United