My grandfather has a lot of pleural effusion in the late stage of lung cancer. The doctor suggested pumping treatment. Is pumping water painful? Will there be complications?

Pleural effusion of lung cancer is a common complication in the late stage of lung cancer, which seriously affects the quality of life and survival of patients. Therefore, the treatment of lung cancer pleural effusion is particularly important in the comprehensive treatment of the whole tumor. At present, there are many methods to treat malignant effusion, but chemotherapy drugs have great toxic and side effects, and surgery and other methods are unbearable for advanced patients. Traditional Chinese medicine has certain advantages in treating lung cancer effusion. The treatment of malignant pleural effusion can be divided into systemic treatment and local treatment.

If the disease is due to small cell lung cancer, lymphoma and other tumors that are sensitive to chemotherapy, when the symptoms of compression are not serious, systemic treatment of pleural effusion in the late stage of lung cancer is used ... If the symptoms of pleural effusion are obvious and the primary disease is not sensitive to chemotherapy, pleural effusion and local injection of chemotherapy drugs are the main ones.

(1) Treatment of intrathoracic drainage: The methods of intrathoracic drainage include thoracic puncture and closed drainage by thoracic intubation. It is suitable for all malignant pleural effusion with ineffective chemotherapy/intervention.

(2) Thoracic puncture and drainage: This method is mostly used for emergency relief of symptoms, and is suitable for patients with other organ metastasis or critical illness. If the amount of hydrops is small and the growth is slow, it is estimated that this method is more suitable for people who can run out after 1~2 times. Repeated puncture will increase the pain of patients, and it is easy to completely control the effusion, which is suitable for patients with large amount of effusion and rapid growth.

(3) At present, there are two kinds of thoracic intubation: thick tube and thin tube. The thick tube has the advantages of large lumen, easy drainage of effusion and difficult blockage of lumen, and is suitable for patients with high viscosity of malignant effusion. Disadvantages are large local injury, easy infection, obvious pain, and easy liquid overflow after extubation.

(4) It is reported at home and abroad that the remission rate of malignant pleural effusion treated by thin tube drainage combined with intrathoracic injection is 50%~93%.

(5) Intrapleural medication: The therapeutic effect of intrapleural injection of drugs depends on whether pleural effusion is found in time and whether it is discharged. At present, commonly used drugs include sclerosing irritant drugs, biological response regulators, anti-tumor drugs and so on.

Because cancerous pleural effusion is the late manifestation of lung cancer, other organs often metastasize at the same time, so the effect of intracavitary treatment alone is not good. According to the specific situation of patients, comprehensive treatment, combined chemotherapy or targeted therapy and traditional Chinese medicine treatment are adopted to further prolong the survival time of patients.

Traditional Chinese medicine has the functions of strengthening body resistance, eliminating pathogenic factors, resisting tumor and regulating immunity in the treatment of pleural effusion in advanced lung cancer. It plays a unique role in improving immunity, improving clinical symptoms and prolonging patients' survival time, and it has synergistic and attenuated effects when combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Traditional Chinese medicines such as Radix Sophorae Flavescentis, Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae, Shā rotto Katakuri, Oletum Trogopterori and Polygoni Multiflori Radix can protect and even enhance immune function in chemotherapy. Combined chemotherapy can improve the clinical curative effect, reduce the toxic and side effects of chemotherapy, treat malignant pleural effusion, relieve pain and improve the quality of life without obvious toxic and side effects. The main chemical component of Salvia Miltiorrhiza is tanshinone, which can induce tumor cell differentiation in vitro. It is reported that the effective rate of salvia miltiorrhiza combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer is 37%.

Traditional Chinese medicine prescription combined with systemic chemotherapy and intrathoracic infusion chemotherapy also has good curative effect on advanced lung cancer pleural effusion. Semen Lepidii, Semen Sinapis Albae, Cortex Mori, Rhizoma Pinelliae Preparata, Poria, Semen Plantaginis, Rhizoma Curcumae, Herba Hedyotidis Diffusae, Coicis Semen, Atractylodis Rhizoma, Radix Codonopsis, Radix Astragali, etc. Treatment of malignant pleural effusion with intrapleural injection of propafenone and systemic chemotherapy. The total effective rate is 80%, which can improve the physique of patients, improve the quality of life and prolong the survival time. In a word, many research results show that Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy can effectively inhibit the production of malignant hydrothorax and ascites, and can obviously reduce the toxic and side effects of chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of malignant hydrothorax and ascites.

Clinically, the commonly used drugs for treating cancerous hydrothorax and ascites are: gynecological pills: diuresis to reduce swelling, dampness to strengthen the spleen. Used for abdominal distension, edema of limbs, constipation and short and red urine.