Treatments For Lung Cancer Stage 1

Treatments For Lung Cancer Stage 1

Lung cancer treatments depend on the type of cancer, the stage of the cancer (how much it has spread), age, health status, and additional personal characteristics. As there is usually no single treatment for cancer, patients often receive a combination of therapies and palliative care. The main lung cancer treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation. However, there also have been recent developments in the fields of immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and gene therapy.

Surgey

Surgery is the oldest known treatment for cancer. If a cancer is in stage I or II and has notmetastasized,it is possible to completely cure a patient by surgically removing the tumor and the nearby lymph nodes.After the disease has spread, however, it is nearly impossible to remove all of the cancer cells.

Surgery is rarely the main treatment for small cell lung cancer—fewer than 5 percent of patients are goodcandidates,meaning the cancer is confined to one lung and has not spread to lymph nodes. But it offers the best chance of curingearlystage,nonsmallcell lung cancer and is often used with chemotherapy or radiation for more advanced disease.

Lung cancer surgery is performed by aspecially trained thoracic surgeon. Afterremoving the tumor and the surroundingmargin of tissue, the margin is further studiedto see if cancer cells are present. If no canceris found in the tissue surrounding the tumor, itis considered a "negative margin." A "positivemargin" may require the surgeon to removemore of the lung tissue.

Lung surgeries are complex operations with potentially serious consequences, so they are best handled by experiencethoracic surgeons like ours. We use the latest research and technology to diagnose and treat patients, and offer a fullrange of procedures—including minimally invasive surgery or interventional pulmonology for some cancers.

Lung cancer surgery can be curative or palliative. Curative surgery aims to cure a patient with early stagelung cancer by removing all of the cancerous tissue. Palliative surgery aims to remove an obstruction oropen an airway, making the patient more comfortable but not necessarily removing the cancer.

Radiation

Radiation treatment, also known as radiotherapy, destroys or shrinks lung cancer tumors by focusinghighenergyrays on the cancer cells. This causes damage to the molecules that make up the cancercells and leads them to commit suicide. Radiotherapy utilizes ighenergy Gammaraysthat are emittedfrom metals such as radium or highenergyxraysthat arereated in a special machine. Radiation canbe used as the main treatment for lung cancer, to kill remaining cells after surgery, or to kill cancer cellsthat have metastasized.

Radiation therapy uses highenergyXraysor other radiation to kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. Someexamples of when we use radiation for lung cancer treatments include:

• ·         After surgery to prevent cancer from returning

• ·         With chemotherapy

• ·         By itself—either to treat tumors when patients can’t or don’t want to have surgery or to relieve latestagediseasesymptoms

• ·         Before surgery, to shrink a tumor

• ·         To the brain, to make sure small cell lung cancer does not spread there after otherwise successful treatment

If the lung cancer is very large or has involvement of the lymph nodes, radiation therapy can be acurative option when given at the same time as chemotherapy. The length of treatment will be 6-7weeks. The majority of patients will be treated on the Tomotherapy machine, which delivers radiationusing a technique called intensity modulated raidation therapy (IMRT), with automatic image-guidedradiation therapy. Generally, IMRT will allow for greater normal lung sparing compared to traditionaltechniques, and also help minimize exposure to other nearby organs, such as the esophagus and heart.

Early radiation treatments caused severe sideeffectsbecause the energy beams would damage normal,healthy tissue, but technologies have improved so that beams can be more accurately targeted.Radiation oncologists can focus the radiation in precise locations in the body for certain lengths of time,reducing the risk of damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Treatments occur intermittently over weeks ormonths depending on the size and extent of the tumor, the dosage of radiation, and how much damage isbeing done to noncancerous tissue.

We offer the latest, safest radiation treatments, including 4D computed tomography (CT) and respiratory gating to adjustfor tumor movement and CyberKnife for delivering therapy with laserlikeprecision. Initial results from our clinical trialshow that CyberKnife is as effective as surgery for treating earlystage,nonsmallcell cancer—good news for patientstoo frail or ill for an operation.

Common side effects of radiation therapy include fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, hair loss, and skinaffectations that cause skin to become dry, irritated, and sensitive.