The choice of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy or a combination of any number of these can depend on the type of lung cancer and the extent of its spread. Staging is the term used to place patients in various categories that enable the selection of proper therapy.
Staging ranges from Stage I, when the tumor is small and confined to a specific region of the lungs, to stage IV, when distant metastases have also occurred at the time of diagnosis. Treatment is therefore most redundant on the stage of the tumor and the type of tumor.
Surgery
Surgery alone may work for someone with a Stage I lung cancer, but if distant metastases have occurred, chemotherapy is usually the treatment of choice. Radiotherapy too may be used to decrease the size of the tumor mass and relieve certain symptoms created by tumor size.
Radiotherapy may also be used following surgery to increase the chances of more complete cancer destruction at the site.
Many cancers tend to recur after initial surgery or other treatment. This is especially true of lung cancer, which often surfaces elsewhere, though there may not have been any signs of spread apparent at the time of surgery. Because of this unpredictability, doctors treating lung cancer often speak of survival rates rather than cures.
Only after a patient has survived his cancer for a long period of time without any recurrence, do physicians tentatively mention the term cure.
Such a conservative approach is unfortunately too well justified for lung cancer. A vast majority of the world’s population who develop lung cancer each year will eventually die from their disease. The overall survival rate for lung cancer following surgery is very low compared to non-cancerous lung conditions.
Below is a concise list of surgical procedures used in the treatment of lung cancer:
- Posterolateral thoracotomy (conducted on the back region of the trunk)
- Anterior limited thoracotomy, initiated with a small incision in the front of the chest
- Median sternotomy, conducted through the breastbone
- Video-assisted thorascopy (VAT)
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy enobles the use of chemical agents to treat or control cancer. It is a novel strategy for treating lung cancer and the preferred treatment for small cell lung carcinoma. This is because lung cancer almost always spreads to distant areas of the body by the time it is discovered.
This type of treatment encompasses a number of drug-pairings associated with combination therapy, and the overall improvement that can result by using these drugs can be quite impressive.
Below are the generic names of some of the combination drugs used in chemotherapy of lung cancer:
- vinorelbine tartrate and cisplatin
- VP-16 and cisplatin
- carboplatin with VP-16
Chemotherapy can result in many toxic side effects, including a reduction in white blood cells, and vomiting.
Radiotherapy
Cancer professionals use this form of treatment for all lung cancer categories. Sometimes radiotherapy is given in conjunction with other treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy, particularly if the cancer is small-celled.
Radiotherapy, in fact, adds to the improving results of chemotherapy, which allows for tumors in the lung to gradually degrade.
Radiotherapy is usually a non-invasive form of treatment given to lung cancer patients. This means that the radiation does not necessarily come into contact with your body. A typical radiotherapy treatment intending to completely remove the cancer cells can last for at least thirty-six weeks of duration.
There are many possible side effects of radiotherapy: These can range from minor stomach discomforts to adverse effects of radiotherapy to the brain.
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Coping with Lung Cancer
References:
Naheed Ali - Naheed Ali, M.D., is a nationally recognized author, speaker and health advocate who began writing professionally in 2005. Additional info ...
