Treatment Options for Lung Cancer
There are many treatment options available for lung cancer. Treatment options of lung cancer depend on the type of the lung cancer and stage of the lung cancer. It also depends upon the overall health of a person. In some cases, the treatment options for lung cancer cause other side effects like breathing problems or pain rather than treating the cancer. In such cases, your health care provider may suggest supportive care only. Let's see lung cancer treatment options depending upon the type of lung cancer.
Treatment Options for Small Cell Lung Cancer
Small cell lung cancer is much more responsive to treatments options like chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This cancer has a greater tendency of spreading widely and most of the cancers have spread beyond the lungs by the time of diagnosis. Therefore surgery is not a treatment option for all small cell lung cancers. But in some cases surgery may be done.
Surgery
Surgical option may be used only if the cancer is found in one lung and nearby lymph nodes. Since in most of the cases, cancer has spread in both of the lungs surgery alone will not help. It helps the doctor to determine the exact type of lung cancer. Laser therapy may be used to kill the cancer cells. Sometimes the surgeon even removes lymph nodes to check whether they are cancerous. During the surgery the surgeon removes almost all the cancer cells, but some cancer cells may be left out. In such cases chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be used to kill those cells.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy treatment option involves the use of drugs to stop the growth of cancer. Chemotherapy may be used to kill the cells, slow down its growth, prevent the cells from dividing and relieve some symptoms making you comfortable. There are two ways of giving chemotherapy, which depend on the type and stage of lung cancer.
- Regional Chemotherapy: In regional chemotherapy, the chemotherapy is injected directly into an organ, the spinal cord or a body cavity (like abdomen). The drugs mainly affect the cancer cells in those areas.
- Systemic Chemotherapy: In systemic chemotherapy, the chemotherapy is taken orally or injected into a vein or muscle. The drugs enter the bloodstream and reach cancer cells throughout the body.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy treatment option may be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy. It uses high-frequency radiations or X-rays to kill cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy. The type of radiation delivered depends upon the type and stage of the cancer.
- External Radiation Therapy: In this therapy, a radiation is delivered from a machine placed outside the body.
- Internal Radiation Therapy: In this therapy, a radioactive substance is sealed in needles, seeds or catheters and placed into or near the cancer.
Sometimes brain radiation therapy may be recommended to prevent cancer from spreading to brain.
Treatment Options for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
The best treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer is surgery.
Surgery
Surgery either involves the removal of only the portion of the lung that contains the tumor or the removal of entire lung. There are 4 types of surgical options involved.
- Wedge Resection: In this type of surgery, only the section of the lung that contains the tumor is removed along with a small amount of normal tissue around it.
- Sleeve Resection: In this type of surgery, a part of the bronchus is removed.
- Pneumonectomy: In this surgery, the whole lung is removed. As this surgery may lead to other complications and decrease lung function considerably, it's performed only when it is absolutely necessary.
- Lobectomy: This is the most common type of lung cancer surgery, which involves the removal of a whole lobe of the lung.
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)
Photodynamic therapy treatment option involves the use of a drug and a certain type of laser light to kill cancer cells. A non-active drug is injected into a vein. The drug becomes active only when exposed to light. This drug collects more in cancer cells than in normal cells. Laser light is then delivered with the help of fiberoptic tubes to the cancer cells. The drug becomes active when exposed to light and kills the cells. It may cause a little damage to healthy tissue.
As in case of small cell lung cancers, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may also be used in treatment of non-small lung cancers.