Lung cancer is one of the most common and dangerous forms of cancer in the world. On average, more than 50% of people who are diagnosed with lung cancer die within a year of the diagnosis. This is because lung cancer is often very advanced by the time it shows noticeable symptoms and has likely spread to other parts of the body.
Therefore, it is vital that you have lung cancer diagnosed as early as possible so that you can begin treatment. With early and aggressive treatment, you can prevent lung cancer from spreading and potentially cure yourself of the disease. While your exact treatment plan will vary depending on your age, physical condition, the extent of the cancer, and other factors, here are the primary treatments for lung cancer.
If your lung cancer has not spread outside of the lungs, surgery is the most common treatment. Surgery is performed to remove cancer cells from the lungs, including any parts of the lung that are too contaminated to remain behind. Surgery can include removing a small portion of the lung or the entire thing, depending on the extent of the cancer. If all or too much of the lung is removed, you will require a lung transplant to replace it.
Chemotherapy consists of medications specifically created to combat cancer cells. These medications attack and kill cancer cells as well as preventing them from developing in the first place. Chemotherapy is often administered before surgery if the tumour needs to be shrunk prior to removal. It can also be used after surgery to eradicate any remaining cancer cells or if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Radiation therapy is a treatment that utilizes high-energy beams of radiation to target and destroy cancer cells. It is often used in combination with chemotherapy and can be administered before or after surgery. If given before surgery, radiation therapy helps shrink the tumour or cancer in your lung. After surgery, it helps eradicate any cancer cells that get left behind.
While immunotherapy is rarely used as a standalone treatment, it is very effective when given in combination with chemo or radiation therapy. Immunotherapy involves pumping your immune system with important vitamins and minerals that build it up and help it fight cancer. It also helps your immune system better identify cancer cells so that it can destroy them.
Radiofrequency ablation therapy is a surgical treatment that involves using high-energy radio waves with the ability to target, burn, and destroy cancer cells. However, radiofrequency ablation is only effective on smaller tumours and is not often used on larger tumours.
In some cases, when treatments that attack the cancer as a whole are ineffective, you can opt for targeted therapy. Targeted therapy uses special medications and drugs that “target” specific parts of cancer cells.
These drugs either withhold essential building blocks from the cancer cells or destroy a single component, resulting in the cancer’s demise. However, targeted therapy typically only works when your lung cancer has certain mutations that are susceptible to the medications.
Because of how dangerous and debilitating lung cancer is, it is important to have it diagnosed as early as possible. That will allow you to treat cancer in its early stages when the tumour is small, and cancer has not spread to other parts of the body. Once again, your exact treatment plan will vary, but surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are typically the most common treatments.