Anyone with stage 4 lung cancer is being treated palliatively
The 5 year survival rate is 2%

I don't have  a figure at hand for median survival, but it's certainly less
than 2 years

Hello George,
I'm sorry to hear about your father and now your brother.
Mom died 7 weeks (or so) after she was hospitalized and subsequently diagnosed.
It was years ago and now I don't know which type she had, but she had some minor
mets to bone and liver. It was for the best, because she was older and had other
chronic problems and would never have been able to tolerate treatments.

My friend R had NSCLC wrapped around a blood vessel. She couldn't have surgery
nor radiation therapy. She fought it hard with various lines of treatments. At
first, she tolerated them fairly well (she was fairly fit for a smoker, a cycler
and outdoorsy - her lung tumour almost totally disappeared), but each one took a
chunk out of her quality of life. About a year later, a tumor showed up on her
adrenal. She tried fighting it again with chemo, but after that, we rarely heard
from her. She died about 5 months later. She did have quality times, in the
earlier part of her disease. I can't say what time your brother has left because
apparently response to treatment also varies from one person to another.

Some people posted here, for a few months, and I had every hope and then
"whoosh" they disappeared. I think during RollCalls, a few longer-timers have
showed up as well.

It says here that, in general, patients who are going to respond to systemic
chemotherapy show evidence of this after the first two or three cycles. Patients
rarely show an initial response to treatment beyond the first four to six
cycles. With this fact in mind, appropriate patients are offered initial
treatment with systemic chemotherapy for a maximum of four to six cycles when
progression is not evident. After the initial cycles, patients are usually
observed until evidence of progressive disease is identified. At that time, a
decision is made about risks and benefits of additional therapy with alternative
agents. http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/1997/03_97/jett.htm
Kind of makes sense because a growing tumor sheds clone cells which spread
throughout the body and eventually become chemo resistant.

Some people take chemo longer. With some of the newer medicines, side effects
are not quite as bad as they were, although some can be cumulative, like
neuropathy or low blood counts.

For Stage 4, it says here
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=6747
People diagnosed at this stage are mostly treated with chemotherapy to relieve
symptoms.  Between 15 and 35 out of every 100 people (15 - 35%) treated for
stage 4 lung cancer will be alive a year later.

Let us know how we may be of assist, in any way.
Please stay in touch and let us know how it's going. We can be here for you as
well.
J

Everybody responds different so I wouldn't try to look at a timeframe. If they
say two years and the tumor doesn't respond to the chemo and is very agressive,
what then?

Treatment is palliative but that doesn't mean your brother can't have some very
good time ahead of him. I had palliative chemo for four months, since a month or
so recovered from the treatment and in very good shape. Sometimes forget I have
an incurable cancer

Anne