Lung Cancer Treatment Options

Lung Cancer Treatment Options

At diagnosis, patients can be divided into 3 treatment groups based on the stage of the cancer:

Non-small cell lung cancer that can be treated with surgery.

Stage 0, stage I, and stage II non-small cell lung cancer can often be removed by surgery. Radiation therapy may be used to treat patients who have other medical problems and cannot have surgery.

Non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to nearby tissue or to lymph

nodes.

Non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to nearby tissue or to lymph nodes can be treated with one of the following:

  • -Radiation therapy alone.
  • -Radiation therapy and chemotherapy or other kinds of treatment.
  • -Surgery alone.

Non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body or to another lobe of the lungs.

Radiation therapy may be used as palliative therapy to shrink the cancer and to relieve pain in patients who have non-small cell lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Chemotherapy may be used to treat some patients.

Four types of standard treatment are used:

Surgery

Three types of surgery are used:

  • -Wedge resection: A surgical procedure to remove a triangle-shaped slice of tissue. It may be used to remove a tumor and a small amount of normal tissue around it.
  • -Lobectomy: A surgical procedure to remove a whole lobe (section) of the lung.
  • -Pneumonectomy: Surgery to remove one whole lung.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping the cells from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly into the spinal column, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas (regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer. Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer.

Radiosurgery is a method of delivering radiation directly to the tumor with little damage to healthy tissue. It does not involve surgery and may be used to treat certain tumors in patients who cannot have surgery.

The way the radiation therapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.

Laser therapy

Laser therapy is a cancer treatment that uses a laser beam (a narrow beam of intense light) to kill cancer cells.

Other types of treatment and prevention are being tested in clinical trials. These include the following:

Photodynamic therapy (PDT)

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a cancer treatment that uses a drug and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer cells. A drug that is not active until it is exposed to light is injected into a vein. The drug collects more in cancer cells than in normal cells. Fiberoptic tubes are then used to deliver the laser light to the cancer cells, where the drug becomes active and kills the cells. Photodynamic therapy causes little damage to healthy tissue. It is used mainly to treat tumors on or just under the skin or in the lining of internal organs, such as the lungs and the esophagus.

Chemoprevention

Chemoprevention is the use of drugs, vitamins, or other substances to reduce the risk of developing cancer or to reduce the risk cancer will recur (come back).

New treatments

New combinations of treatments are being studied in clinical trials.



Lung Cancer Treatment News

4 Nov 2009 at 6:00am
Patients with early stage, non-small cell lung cancer who are not able to undergo surgery, now have a highly effective treatment option. Physicians say that option, radical stereotactic radiosurgery performed with CyberKnife, leads to a 100 percent overall survival after three years in patients with good lung function before treatment.
2 Nov 2009 at 3:00am
Research published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that intervals between lung cancer suspicion, diagnosis and treatment may be attributed to health care system discrepancies. To gain better insight on this topic, researchers studied the timing of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment at a U.S.
5 Aug 2009 at 8:00am
Data presented on Sunday at the The International Society of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in San Francisco highlight the screening of over 3,000 patients for MAGRIT (MAGE-A3 as Adjuvant Non-Small Cell LunG CanceR ImmunoTherapy)1, the largest-ever treatment trial in lung cancer.
31 Oct 2009 at 10:00pm
(International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer) Research published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that intervals between lung cancer suspicion, diagnosis and treatment may be attributed to health care system discrepancies.
20 May 2009 at 1:00am
Among the various type of cancer deaths, lung cancer is responsible for 29 percent of that. Hence, you can begin protecting yourself now by arming yourself with the general facts on lung cancer before it's too late.
2 Aug 2009 at 10:00pm
The world's top lung cancer specialists, medical professionals and researchers are convening this week in San Francisco, Calif., for the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer, organized by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. According to research showcased today at the WCLC, multimodality, tailored treatment regimens increased patient survival rates compared to single-agent therapies.
8 Nov 2009 at 10:00pm
Mayo Clinic cancer biologist Alan Fields? pioneering work in cell biology of lung cancer may pave the way for a new drug treatment for cancer.
4 Aug 2009 at 9:00am
Boehringer Ingelheim announced today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), San Francisco, CA, the initiation of a Phase III clinical study of BIBW 2992 as first-line treatment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations.
9 Sep 2009 at 6:00am
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found that the lung cancer oncogene PKCiota is necessary for the proliferation of lung cancer stem cells. These stem cells are rare and powerful master cells that manufacture the other cells that make up lung tumors and are resistant to chemotherapy treatment. Their study, published in the Oct.
4 Jun 2009 at 7:00am
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have discovered a protein in the lungs that can help in determining progression of the rare lung disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Researchers say the protein - Serum surfactant protein A - is superior to other IPF predictors and could lead to better decisions about treatment and timing of lung transplantation.
1 Jun 2009 at 5:00am
Of all cancers, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents one of the greatest unmet needs for an effective and life-prolonging treatment. The condition, which accounts for 85 per cent of all lung cancers - roughly 1.4 million worldwide each year - is rarely diagnosed at its earliest and most potentially curable stage when it is amenable to surgical resection.
1 Nov 2009 at 10:00pm
(UT Southwestern Medical Center) Stereotactic body radiation therapy should be considered a new standard of care for early-stage lung cancer treatment in patients with co-existing medical problems, according to results from a national clinical trial led by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians.
7 Sep 2009 at 10:00pm
(Mayo Clinic) Scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found that the lung cancer oncogene PKCiota is necessary for the proliferation of lung cancer stem cells. These stem cells are rare and powerful master cells that manufacture the other cells that make up lung tumors and are resistant to chemotherapy treatment.
1 Sep 2009 at 10:00pm
(International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer) Research published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that an individual's quality of life prior to treatment can help predict the overall survival of patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer.
25 Jul 2009 at 2:00am
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), has adopted a negative opinion for the use of Erbitux® (cetuximab) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing, advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).