Lung Cancer Treatment

The most commonly used treatments for lung cancerof the body, chemotherapy and radiotherapy replace
are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The exactsurgery as the main treatment options. A number of
treatment a lung cancer patient receives will dependdrugs are available, and many more are being tested
on several factors. These include the type of cancer,in clinical trials. Radiotherapy is palliative, and while it
the stage or extent to which it has spread at themay ease symptoms such as pain and cough, it will
time of diagnosis, and the overall health of thenot stop cancer growth. If the cancer obstructs a
patient.Non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts formajor airway, using a laser, freezing the tumor or
about 80 percent of lung cancer cases, is treatedkeeping the airway open with a stent or tube may
depending on its stage at diagnosis. Lung surgery isremove the obstruction.Small cell lung cancer, which is
the mainstay of treatment for the early stages offound in about 20 percent of lung cancer patients, is
lung cancer. Cancerous tissue, along with a margin ofmore aggressive and more likely to have spread by
healthy tissue, is removed. Patients who are unablethe time of diagnosis. It is therefore treated primarily
to have surgery may be treated with radiotherapy.with chemotherapy. Radiotherapy to the chest may
While cure rates for early lung cancer are good, it isalso be used to kill off remaining cancer cells. This
rarely detected in its early stages. As non-small celltype of cancer often spreads to the brain. This is
cancer spreads within the chest, it is treated withwhy radiotherapy to the brain may be used as a
some combination of surgery, chemotherapy andprophylactic even if no cancer is detected in the
radiotherapy. Once cancer has spread to other partsbrain.