There are many lung cancer treatments available for lung cancer. These vary depending upon the type of lung cancer and stage. The goal of lung cancer treatment is different for different patients. For patients who have a chance of a cure, doctors offer curative treatments. Curative treatments are any treatments whose goal is to cure the cancer, to make it disappear.
Even if doctors can't cure a person's lung cancer, they can give treatments to help him feel more comfortable— these are called palliative treatments. Palliative treatments are any treatments that try to improve a person's symptoms. They do not try to cure the lung cancer, but the do try to keep it at bay. No matter what stage a person's lung cancer is at, doctors can do things to help them feel more comfortable.
Different treatments work for different types of lung cancer. To decide on treatment for a particular patient, doctors look at:
- the type of cancer the patient has
- the patient's age and overall health
- the stage the lung cancer is at — whether it has spread to other parts of the body
After looking at those things, doctors may recommend one or more of these treatments:
- surgery
- chemotherapy
- radiation therapy
- targeted therapies
- photodynamic therapy
1. Surgery
When lung cancer (especially non-small cell lung cancer) is caught before it has spread beyond the lungs, surgery can often be curative. The three procedures performed commonly to remove lung cancer include:
- Wedge resection – the tumor and some surrounding tissue is removed
- Lobectomy – a lobe of the lung is removed
- Pneumonectomy – an entire lung is removed
Common side effects of surgery are infection, bleeding, and shortness of breath, depending on lung function prior to surgery and the amount of lung tissue removed.
2. Chemotherapy
Both oral and intravenous anti-cancer drugs are available to treat lung cancer. These drugs are used to kill rapidly growing cancer cells. The side effects typically encountered occur when the drugs kill rapidly dividing non-cancerous cells, such as hair follicles (resulting in hair loss,) and stomach lining (causing nausea and vomiting.) Sometimes chemotherapy is given as adjuvant therapy, used along with surgery to catch cancer cells that may have spread microscopically. Most of the time, chemotherapy is given as a palliative therapy, to improve survival time and decrease symptoms.
3. Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays applied from outside the body to kill cancer cells. It is often combined with chemotherapy. Common side effects can include redness and irritation of the skin where the radiation is given, and fatigue.
4. Targeted Therapies
Targeted therapies are a newer treatment for certain kinds of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They come as a pill you take once a day. In Canada, two targeted therapies have been approved for non–small cell lung cancer treatment, gefitinib (Iressa©) and erlotinib (Tarceva©).
Gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva) belong to a group of medicines called "growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors". They prevent the activation of a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that spans the outer wall of cells. Normally, activation of EGFR protein sends signals to the inside of cells to make them divide. Gefitinib and erlotinib interfere with this protein. This helps stop the cancer cells from growing and spreading.
Gifitinib and erlotinib will work best in people whose cancer cells have specific genetic mutation, called “activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase” (“EGFR-TK” for short). However, these targeted medicines are used in cancer patients who have the mutation and those whose mutational status is unknown (who have not been tested for the mutation).
Erlotinib hydrochloride (Tarceva) is for adults with non-small cell lung cancer at an advanced stage:
Gefitinib (Iressa) was first approved for adult patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who were not helped by other treatments. It has also recently been approved in Canada for the initial (first-line) treatment of adult patients who are nonsmokers or previous light smokers who have the adenocarcinoma type of non-small cell lung cancer and whose cancer:
Currently, provincial health plans and private plans do not cover the cost of gefitinib (Iressa) as first-line treatment, and hospitals do not usually test patients to see if they have the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) mutation.
Both oral and intravenous anti-cancer drugs are available to treat lung cancer. These drugs are used to kill rapidly growing cancer cells. The side effects typically encountered occur when the drugs kill rapidly dividing non-cancerous cells, such as hair follicles (resulting in hair loss,) and stomach lining (causing nausea and vomiting.) Sometimes chemotherapy is given as adjuvant therapy, used along with surgery to catch cancer cells that may have spread microscopically. Most of the time, chemotherapy is given as a palliative therapy, to improve survival time and decrease symptoms.
3. Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays applied from outside the body to kill cancer cells. It is often combined with chemotherapy. Common side effects can include redness and irritation of the skin where the radiation is given, and fatigue.
4. Targeted Therapies
Targeted therapies are a newer treatment for certain kinds of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They come as a pill you take once a day. In Canada, two targeted therapies have been approved for non–small cell lung cancer treatment, gefitinib (Iressa©) and erlotinib (Tarceva©).
Gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva) belong to a group of medicines called "growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors". They prevent the activation of a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) that spans the outer wall of cells. Normally, activation of EGFR protein sends signals to the inside of cells to make them divide. Gefitinib and erlotinib interfere with this protein. This helps stop the cancer cells from growing and spreading.
Gifitinib and erlotinib will work best in people whose cancer cells have specific genetic mutation, called “activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase” (“EGFR-TK” for short). However, these targeted medicines are used in cancer patients who have the mutation and those whose mutational status is unknown (who have not been tested for the mutation).
Erlotinib hydrochloride (Tarceva) is for adults with non-small cell lung cancer at an advanced stage:
- who have tried chemotherapy, but the chemotherapy did not help stop the cancer
- whose cancer has the activating mutations of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK).
Gefitinib (Iressa) was first approved for adult patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who were not helped by other treatments. It has also recently been approved in Canada for the initial (first-line) treatment of adult patients who are nonsmokers or previous light smokers who have the adenocarcinoma type of non-small cell lung cancer and whose cancer:
- has spread around the lungs or to other parts of the body (metastasized)
- has the activating mutations of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK).
Currently, provincial health plans and private plans do not cover the cost of gefitinib (Iressa) as first-line treatment, and hospitals do not usually test patients to see if they have the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) mutation.
5. Photodynamic Therapy
With photodynamic therapy, you're injected with a special medicine that gets absorbed by cancer cells. Then doctors shine a high-energy laser light on you, which activates the medicine and helps it destroys the cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy can be used to treat some cases of early-stage lung cancer. It can also be used to help relieve symptoms of a blocked airway (airways are the breathing tubes in your lungs).