Treatment Options
Today, men and women facing lung cancer have more treatment options than they did even a few years ago. These new treatments have significantly increased survival rates for people with lung cancer.
Everyone's cancer is different, as are their circumstances, preferences, and beliefs. A treatment that works well for someone else may not be right for you.
Two cancer types
There are two types of lung cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The treatment your doctors recommend will depend on the type of lung cancer you have, how far the disease has progressed, and other factors, such as your general health.
If you have not already had a biopsy, your doctors may do one to gather information about your cancer that will help them make decisions about your treatment. Tissue samples from your cancer will be removed and examined by a pathologist. The doctors will also perform tests to determine the extent of cancer, also know as the cancer “stage.”
These tests may show whether your cancer is likely to respond to certain types of treatment. This testing allows doctors to determine whether surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or some combination of therapies provides the best chance for cancer control.
Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
For people with Stage I or II non-small cell lung cancer, the standard treatment is surgery in which a portion of the lung is removed. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or targeted therapy may be performed after surgery, which is called adjuvant therapy, to remove any cancer cells that may be left in the body to reduce the risk of recurrence.
For patients who refuse surgery or are not surgical candidates who have Stage I or II non-small cell lung cancer, radiation therapy may be an option.
For people with Stage III disease, surgery will not be enough treatment to cure the disease because it has already spread and in some cases, surgery is not recommended at all. Patients with Stage IIIa or IIIb disease will have chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and may or may not have surgery. Those with Stage IIIB disease with pleural effusion and Stage IV disease will need to have life-long chemotherapy to keep their disease in remission. They will be closesly monitored by their physicians as well.
Small Cell Lung Cancer
Most people who have small cell lung cancer will be treated with chemotherapy. This type of cancer is fast-growing. Those with limited stage disease will often receive radiation therapy simultaneously after the first or second month that chemotherapy begins. Patients with extensive stage cancer are treated with chemotherapy. Surgery is rarely used as a treatment for small cell lunc cancer.
Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI), radiation to the brain, is given to decrease the risk of cancer moving to the brain after initial chemotherapy treatment.
Time to Quit Smoking
It's never too late to quit smoking, even if you have been diagnosed with lung cancer. Quitting will make the treatments easier to take and you'll feel better while making your lungs healthier, thus reducing the risk of future cancers or lung disease.
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance's Smoke Free Life Program is here to help you through the quitting process. It won't be easy to quit, but it will be worth your efforts. Smoking cessation counseling and medications to help control the side effects of quitting will increase your chances of success. Fortunately, the quit smoking medications will not interfere with your cancer treatments.
Clinical Trials
Lung cancer patients at SCCA also have access to Lung Cancer clinical trials at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for new treatment options being researched here and across the country.
Listen to the latest news, issues, and breakthroughs in lung cancer research and treatment presented by SCCA expert physicians on the Patient Power Radio Show.