General information

Lung cancer (also called Bronchial carcinoma) is the most common cancer and the most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Due to the appearance and characteristics of the tumor cells, the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, 85% of all lung cancers) is distinguished from the much rarer small cell lung cancer (SCLC, about 15%).

The two main subgroups of the NSCLC are the adenocarcinoma and the squamous cell carcinoma. All lung cancer types have in common that today the disease can only be cured through surgery at an early stage, i.e. if the tumor is not locally advanced and no distant metastases are present. If you are looking for more information on these early forms and surgical treatment, please follow the link here. If you would like to make an appointment for consultation at an early stage, please contact our lung cancer center or our second opinion consultation.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of patients is already inoperable at initial diagnosis. For these patients chemotherapy had been the only possible medical therapy for decades. However, the efficacy of chemotherapy is not satisfactory in all forms of lung cancer. Many patients do not respond to it, but even after a response, i.e. a tumor shrinkage, there is the threat of an early relapse.

The median survival time with distant metastases is approximately one year, i.e. after the first year half of the patients died. Even the new, so-called targeted drugs cannot achieve a breakthrough, if they are used without specific patient selection, based on the molecular analysis of the tumor.

Last update: 29. February 2016 , 14:35

Molecular diagnostics

As the first group in Europe, the Network Genomic Medicine has offered a comprehensive analysis of tumor material since 2012. By means of a multiplex-test in combination with highly sensitive deep sequencing even rare gene mutations in the smallest tissue samples are detected reliably

Second opinion

Do you have questions about your disease or your current therapy? Or maybe you would like to know if for you a personalized treatment approach or immunotherapy might be considered. Please feel free to contact us!

Clinical trials

At the Network Genomic Medicine we try to offer an appropriate clinical trial testing a new drug to all our patients who have a detected mutation, for which there has no drug been approved for treatment yet. For that we work closely together with the Lung Cancer Group Cologne.