A diagnosis of lung cancer used to be a diagnosis of death. Not anymore.

Lung disease caused by a new drug for cancers—including metastatic or advanced breast cancer—can be effectively treated using approaches that focus on early detection and prompt management, according to a study published in ESMO Open in August 2022.

Using data from nine clinical trials, this study provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of interstitial lung disease diagnosis and treatment in patients who received an antibody-drug conjugate known as T-DXd, from a class of drugs designed as a targeted therapy for treating cancers.

The retrospective review examined 1,150 heavily pre-treated patients with breast, lung, gastric, colorectal, or other cancers across nine studies treated with T-DXd, also known as ENHERTU®.

Senior author Charles Powell, MD, MBA, joins us today to discuss the findings. He is the Professor of Medicine and System Division Chief for Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and the Medical Director of Respiratory Therapy at Mount Sinai Hospital.  He also directs research programs focused on the early detection of lung interstitial disease and airway disease.