Treatments For Lung Cancer Stage 2

Treatments For Lung Cancer Stage 2

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy utilizes strong chemicals that interfere with the cell division process damagingProteinsor DNA sothat cancer cells will commit suicide. These treatments target any rapidly dividing cells (notjust cancer cells), but normal cells usually can recover from anychemicalinduceddamage while cancercells cannot. Chemotherapy is considered systemicbecause its medicines travel throughout the entirebody, killing the original tumor cells as wellas cancer cells that have spread throughout the body.

Chemotherapy for lung cancer uses drugs that are injected into a vein or swallowed to enter the bloodstream and killcancerous cells throughout the body.

A medical oncologist will usually prescribechemotherapy drugs for lung cancer to betaken intravenously, but there are also drugsavailable in tablet, capsule, and liquid form.Chemotherapy treatment occurs in cycles sothe body has time to heal between doses, anddosages are determined by the type of lungcancer, the type of drug, and how the personresponds to treatment. Medicines may beadministered daily, weekly, or monthly, and cancontinue for months or even years.

Chemotherapy is the main lung cancer treatment for small cell lung cancer, using a combination of drugs and possiblepaired with radiation. For nonsmallcell lung cancer, our chemotherapy uses include:

• ·         Before surgery (neoadjuvant) to shrink a tumor

• ·         After surgery (adjuvant) to kill any remaining cancer cells

• ·         As the main treatment (with radiation) for inoperable cancer or for people who aren’t healthy enough for surgeryor don’t want to undergo it

• ·                  With a targeted therapy to control laterstagedisease

Chemotherapy carries several common side effects, but they depend on the type of chemotherapy andthe health of the patient. These include nausea and vomiting, appetite loss, diarrhea, hair loss, fatiguefrom anemia, infections, bleeding, and mouth sores. Many of these side effects are only temporarily feltduring treatment, and several drugs exist to help patients cope with the symptoms.

CyberKnife for Lung Cancer

CyberKnife is an advanced form of external radiation sometimes called radiosurgery, though it does not involve surgery.It uses imageguidancesystems and a robot arm rotating around your body to:

• ·         Deliver hundreds of tiny radiation beams at various angles, with submillimeterprecision

• ·         Track and adjust for tumor motion while you breathe, minimizing the harm to surrounding areas and delivering ahigher dose of radiation straight to the cancer

• ·                  Reduce the number of lung cancer treatment sessions

The CyberKnife is the world’s first and only radiosurgery system designed to pinpoint and destroy tumors in the body. In many cases, the treatment offers new hope to patients who were considered untreatable or inoperable, who may be looking for an alternative to surgery, or who have been previously exposed to the maximum allowable dose of radiation but still require further treatment. 

Twenty-five of 29 tumors were evaluable for local control, with 27 tumors (93 %) considered in-field recurrences. In-field crude local control rate was 80 % (20/25) with 1 and 2-year actuarial rates of 78.6 and 65.5 %, respectively. One and 2-year actuarial survival rates were 52.3 and 37.0 %, respectively. One and 2-year actuarial progression-free survival rates were 56.7 and 37.0 %, respectively. Fifty-five percent of patients reported acute/chronic grades 1 and 2 toxicities. No grade 3 or higher toxicities were reported.