Lung Cancer - Treatments - Surgery and Chemotherapy
The treatment options for those people suffering from lung cancer can often depend upon a number of different reasons including the type of lung cancer the patient has, the size, site, and extent of their tumour, and also their general. (These patients can sometimes be very frail).
There are many different treatments which can be used to control and monitor lung cancer, and also improve a person's quality of life by reducing and alleviating their symptoms.
The main treatment options are:
Surgery
Chemotherapy
Radiation Therapy
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)
Cryosurgery
In this article we discuss Surgery and Chemotherapy.
Surgery is an operation which is carried out to try and remove the cancer. The specific type of surgery a doctor may well perform to remove a lung tumour cancer depends on its particular location in the lung.
Occasionally if the tumour isn't too large, only part of the lung is removed, but if the entire lung is affected, then the entire lung may have to be removed. If the surgeon can get away with only removing a small part of the lung, then the operation is known as a segmental or wedge resection.
If the entire lobe of the lung has to be removed, the procedure is called a lobectomy. Sometimes the entire lung may be affected by the cancer which would necessitate a complete removal. This procedure is called a Pneumonectomy.
Unfortunately some tumours can't be removed by surgery because of the size they have grown to or their location. These types of tumours are alleged to be inoperable. Even if the tumours are not inoperable, the general age, health and fitness of the patient might preclude them from undergoing an operation.
Chemotherapy uses special anti-cancer drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy drugs are very toxic to all living cells, which mean they can have very unpleasant side effects, but as they are more poisonous to cancer cells they can be very useful drugs. Chemotherapy can be used to control cancer growth or to relieve the symptoms caused by the cancer.
The idea of chemotherapy is to pump drugs into your body in a very carefully monitored dosage which is just sufficiently high enough to kill the cancer cells but leave non-cancer cells alive and intact.
Because they are so toxic, during the administration of chemotherapy the patient can become very ill because of the drastic side effects. They usually become very sick and suffer a huge range of side effects, such as hair loss, nausea, vomiting, headache, mouth sores and fatigue.
When the chemotherapy has destroyed the cancer cells in the lung, there may still be the possibility that cancer cells are still present in nearby tissue or other organs of the body.
Usually chemotherapy drugs are given by injection directly into a blood vein (IV) or by means of a catheter which is a thin tube placed in a large vein and remaining there as long as it is needed. Some chemotherapy drugs are now available in pill form which helps to lesson the side effects
If a patient is suffering from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), surgery is usually the most common method of treatment as this cancer grows and spreads slowly.
Because Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) tends to grow and spread quickly, chemotherapy is frequently used to treat this form of cancer. Also patients with small cell cancer often receive radiation therapy to the brain even though no cancer has been discovered in the brain. This is known as a prophylactic treatment and is given to ensure there is no spread.
Lung Cancer - Overview
Lung Cancer is a type of cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages. Many lung cancers begin in the bronchi though others can start in other parts of the lungs. Lung cancer also has a tendency to form in the glands below the bronchi.
Lung Cancer - Probabilities
Lung cancer causes up to 30% of all cancer related deaths, and it is the 2nd leading cause of death among both men and women in western society. 85% of all lung cancers are caused by a person's smoking habit or just by breathing in the second-hand smoke of others.
Lung Cancer - Screening
At this moment in time, there is no particularly useful single test that can be considered 100% reliable for the early detection of lung cancer. Unfortunately unless someone is undergoing a health screen for something completely unrelated, lung cancer is very often only discovered in the later stages of the disease when it is often too late to do anything but offer palliative treatment.
Lung Cancer - Symptoms
The most common indicators and symptoms of lung cancer include the following: Fatigue Shortness of breath and wheezing (dyspnoea) A cough that doesn't go away and gets worse over time Repeated problems with pneumonia or bronchitis Constant chest pain Coughing up blood (bloody sputum) (haemoptysis) Swelling of the neck and face Fever Loss of appetite and Weight loss (anorexia) Hoarse voice
Lung Cancer Treatment Options - Radiation
In many cases of lung cancer, surgery is not an option. This may be because of the advanced stage of the cancer, the location of the tumor or tumors, or because of the overall general health of the patient. In those cases, the oncologist may suggest radiation therapy to treat lung cancer. Even if surgery is an option, the doctor may suggest irradiation either before therapy to shrink the tumor or after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells.
Lung Cancer - Trends by Ethnicity, Sex and Race
In the USA and many other western countries, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Lung cancer has been found to be the leading cancer killer among Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians and Hispanic males.