Traditional Treatments for Lung Cancer

The treatment that is recommended for lung cancer will depend on a number of factors, including how far advanced the cancer is, how large the tumors are, whether or not they are localized, the overall health of the patient and the desires of the patient. The traditional treatments for lung cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and combinations of the three. In addition, treatment for lung cancer may include both curative treatments – intended to remove or destroy the cancer – and palliative treatments, intended to reduce the pain and discomfort, though they can not cure the cancer. Finally, a therapy may be a primary therapy, or it may be used to supplement or complement the primary therapy, in which case it is referred to as ‘adjuvant’ therapy. An example of adjuvant therapy is radiation therapy following surgery to remove a tumor. The primary therapy is the surgery. Radiation therapy is a follow-up to be certain that all cancerous cells have been destroyed.

Surgery for Lung Cancer
In early stage lung cancer, particularly stage I non-large cell lung cancer (NLCLC), the preferred treatment is surgical removal of the tumor. Because the cancer is still confined to the lungs, often as one tumor, it is possible to surgically remove most or all of it with surgery. The further advanced lung cancer is, the less likely it is that surgery can be effective. Once the lung cancer spreads beyond the chest and metastasizes into other organs, surgery is seldom a viable option.

Medical experts estimate that between 10 and 35% of all lung cancers can be removed surgically. Surgical removal is not a guarantee of a cure, though, as the cancerous cells may already have started to spread, and may recur later. Surgery may not be an option if the cancer is too close to the trachea, or if a person is in poor health otherwise.

The surgery chosen is also dependent on what the exact stage and condition of the lungs is at the time of the surgery. It ranges from the removal of a part of one lobe, to the removal of an entire lung. Up to 40% of patients who undergo surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from their lungs are still alive five years after the surgery.

Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer
Radiation therapy can kill off dividing cancer cells and stop the spread of cancer. It is most often used in conjunction with either surgery, chemotherapy or both. Occasionally, it is recommended as the sole treatment option for lung cancer – most often when the patient is too ill to undergo surgery or withstand chemotherapy. When radiation therapy is used as the sole treatment for lung cancer, it results in the shrinking of tumors and complete remission from cancer symptoms approximately 10-15% of the time.

Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer
Chemotherapy is the use of medicines to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be used with both NSCLC and SCLC, though it is most often recommended for patients with SCLC, whose tumors have spread beyond the chest area. Chemotherapy can prolong the survival rate of patients with cancer as much as twenty times. A great deal depends on the particular drugs that are used and how well they’re tolerated by the patient.