Non-Surgical Treatment For Lung Cancer
What are the leading non-operative therapies for lung cancer?
Chemotherapy and radiation are two additional modalities in what we call multi-modality treatment for lung cancer. And this complements surgery, whether it be definitive or impaliative approaches for patients with advanced lung cancer.
What are other local treatments if I do not want surgery or can't have surgery?
There's a number of non-operative treatments out there if the patient doesn't desire surgery or cannot have surgery because of a number of other reasons. External beam radiation where high energy X-Rays are focused onto the lung tumour can kill off cancer cells. Other types of radiation which is very focused is called stereotactic radial surgery which limits the damage to the surrounding normal lung. The other modality, another local treatment would be radial frequency ablation. This utilizes radio frequency waves to heat and kill a tumour and also to minimize the surrounding lung tissue. So both of these later two modalities are ideal for patients with marginal lung function or poor lung function who are not candidates for surgery.
How does chemotherapy cure lung cancer?
Chemotherapy works by stopping the growth of cancer cells, and it does it in two ways. Firstly, it actually kills the cancer cells or specifically stops them from dividing. Chemotherapy drugs can be taken orally or given intravenously through your veins. It depends on the type of cancer you have and the type of different chemotherapy drugs out there.
What's the best way to learn about the latest research on chemotherapy for lung cancer?
There is a great deal of research in lung cancer currently to figure out new ways of preventing, detecting and treating lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute is a nationwide group that facilitates and encourages research in lung cancer. There is a website at The National Cancer Institute where new clinical trials and current open clinical trials can be searched by the public.
How does radiation cure lung cancer?
Radiation is a form of local treatment, like surgery is a local treatment that addresses the lung cancer. Radiology kills cancer cells by stopping them from dividing, and kills off the cancer cells that way. It affects the blood supply to that area and it causes the blood supply to obliterate.
How many radiation treatments will I need to try and cure lung cancer?
The duration of radiation therapy is variable. It depends on how it's used. Is it used as an induction treatment before your anticipated surgery? Or, is it used as a palliative treatment, and as definitive treatment, if you're not a candidate for surgery? The dose and the frequency of it is going to depend on your stage, the location of your tumor, and the surrounding tissues. Certain tissues cannot handle very high doses of radiation, whereas other tissues can handle very high levels. That dose is going to be determined by a discussion between the thoracic surgeon and the radiation oncologist, if this surrounds surgical treatment. On the other hand, if this is a definiitive mode of treatment, then this can be a very high dose in particular areas, and will be dictated by the radiation oncologist with the medical oncologist. Generally radiation spans over several weeks, depending on the dose.
What is 'combined modality therapy' for lung cancer?
Multi-modality treatment, or combined modality therapy incorporates surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Depending on the type of lung cancer you have, whether it's non-small cell or small cell lung cancer and the stage of your lung cancer. The predominant role of these three modalities is better defined.
What is 'gene therapy'?
Gene Therapy is the transfer of genes to the patient's cells to treat certain diseases. In lung cancer this remains an investigational modality that remains to be defined. Currently there are centers that research lung cancer where we are looking at immuno Therapy. UCLA is one of those institutions. We take the patient's own immune cells called antrytic cells We modify these immune cells with gene Therapy using common flu viruses and we then inject that antrytic cell, the patient's own immune cell, into the lung cancer. Whether this will have Therapeutic effects remains to be defined so immuno Therapy and gene Therapy remains investigational at the current time.
What is 'laser therapy'?
Laser therapy involves utilizing the laser light to kill off cancer cells. In lung cancer, it's being utilized for palliative treatments. For instance, endobronchial tumors, where the lung cancer grows in the airway itself can cause shortness of breath, and as a palliative treatment, we're able to use laser light to carve out the tumor in the airway. This will improve your quality of life and improve your breathing.
How is laser therapy performed on lung cancer patients?
Laser therapy is utilized in surgery mainly as an outpatient procedure. Some of those patients do need to be admitted to the hospital. We use the laser light to carve out the tumor itself and we remove that lung cancer in the airway itself. This ultimately improves the patient's breathing and most of these patients are able to go home.