Cure For Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer Treatment | Lung Cancer Information

The cure for lung cancer is through surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Surgery is used for treating patients in the early stages of the cancer. With the help of the surgery the cancerous cells (tumors) are removed. A single operation is not always sufficient and in some cases if there is re-growth of the cancerous cells then a second operation is performed. If the tumors are spread to an area close by in the body, all of them can be removed with a single surgery. If it is spread to other areas of the body then surgery will not suffice.

Smokers are mostly affected by lung cancer. Usually smokers come for cancer treatment only after the age of 50. Unfortunately, at this age it is not possible to perform multiple surgeries in their body to remove the tumors, as their body condition may not be suitable for such surgeries. Performing multiple surgeries after the age of 50 is very risky, and as the age of the patient progresses they are at risk in a lung cancer surgery. Surgery should be performed in young patients or they have to go for other treatments of cancer. Size and location of a tumor in the lungs plays an important role in surgery for lung cancer. The common surgeries that are performed in the lungs are a lobectomy, segmental resection or wedge resection, or pneumonectomy. A lobectomy is a surgery in which an entire lobe is removed provided the lung functions well. In a segmental resection the portion of the tumor alone is removed. In a pneumonectomy the entire lung is removed.

Radiation therapy is the most popular among cures for lung cancer. Cells that have divided uncontrollably are destroyed by radiation. Radiation can be the primary treatment for cancer or it can be used as a supplementary treatment before performing surgery. Radiation therapy is also used to clean up an area by eliminating the remaining cancerous cells after a surgery. If the lung cancer has spread to far areas in the body then radiation therapy can be used to treat those areas as well. Shortness of breath is a symptom of having lung cancer and this symptom can be removed by using radiation therapy apart from removing the cancerous cells. Radiation therapy can also be combined with chemotherapy for effective treatment. Multiple sessions of radiation therapy are required to treat a patient. In order to avoid the radiation from affecting the normal cells in the nearby area a new technique called conformal radiation therapy is used. In this method the radiation beam changes the shape to suit that of the tumor being destroyed.

Chemotherapy is another method that is used as a cure for lung cancer. With chemotherapy the life of the person can be prolonged and this is used to treat all the stages of lung cancer. Toxic drugs are used to treat cancer cells through injections or catheter. Combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy as a cure for lung cancer is found to be more effective in treating lung cancer. Side effects due to chemotherapy and radiation therapy are to be considered before going for a treatment. Experimental treatments like photodynamic therapy can be tried in some cases as a cure for lung cancer.