Types, Stages, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment

How is lung cancer treated?

Treatments for lung cancer are designed to get rid of cancer in your body or slow down its growth. Treatments can remove cancerous cells, help to destroy them or keep them from multiplying or teach your immune system to fight them. Some therapies are also used to reduce symptoms and relieve pain. Your treatment will depend on the type of lung cancer you have, where it is, how far it’s spread and many other factors.

What medications/treatments are used in lung cancer?

Lung cancer treatments include surgery, radiofrequency ablation, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy and immunotherapy.

Surgery

NSCLC that hasn’t spread and SCLC that’s limited to a single tumor can be eligible for surgery. Your surgeon might remove the tumor and a small amount of healthy tissue around it to make sure they don’t leave any cancer cells behind. Sometimes they have to remove all or part of your lung (resection) for the best chance that the cancer won’t come back.

Radiofrequency ablation

NSCLC tumors near the outer edges of your lungs are sometimes treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA uses high-energy radio waves to heat and destroy cancer cells.

Radiation therapy

Radiation uses high energy beams to kill cancer cells. It can be used by itself or to help make surgery more effective. Radiation can also be used as palliative care, to shrink tumors and relieve pain. It’s used in both NSCLC and SCLC.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is often a combination of multiple medications designed to stop cancer cells from growing. It can be given before or after surgery or in combination with other types of medication, like immunotherapy. Chemotherapy for lung cancer is usually given through an IV.

Targeted drug therapy

In some people with NSCLC, lung cancer cells have specific changes (mutations) that help the cancer grow. Special drugs target these mutations to try to slow down or destroy cancer cells. Other drugs, called angiogenesis inhibitors, can keep the tumor from creating new blood vessels, which the cancer cells need to grow.

Immunotherapy

Our bodies usually recognize cells that are damaged or harmful and destroy them. Cancer has ways to hide from the immune system to keep from being destroyed. Immunotherapy reveals cancer cells to your immune system so your own body can fight cancer.

Treatments to ease symptoms (palliative care)

Some lung cancer treatments are used to relieve symptoms, like pain and difficulty breathing. These include therapies to reduce or remove tumors that are blocking airways, and procedures to remove fluid from around your lungs and keep it from coming back.

Side effects of the treatment

Side effects of lung cancer treatment depend on the type of treatment. Your provider can tell you what side effects to expect, and what complications to look out for, for your specific treatment.

Chemotherapy

• Nausea, vomiting.
• Diarrhea.
• Hair loss.
• Fatigue.
• Mouth sores.
• Loss of feeling, weakness or tingling (neuropathy).

Immunotherapy

• Fatigue.
• Itchy rash.
• Diarrhea.
• Nausea, vomiting.
• Joint pain.
• Complications (like pneumonitis, colitis, hepatitis and others) can have additional side effects.

Radiation therapy

• Shortness of breath.
• Cough.
• Pain.
• Fatigue.
• Difficulty swallowing.
• Dry, itchy or red skin.
• Nausea, vomiting.

Surgery

• Shortness of breath.
• Chest wall pain.
• Cough.
• Fatigue.

How do I manage symptoms and side effects?

Your provider can prescribe medications to help manage your symptoms or side effects of treatment. A palliative care specialist or a dietitian can help you manage pain or other symptoms and improve your quality of life while you’re in treatment.