Topic > Is lung cancer operable? : Lung Cancer Treatment Options

Whether lung cancer is operable or not may depend on the circumstances of the patient involved; however, where certain factors do not allow this option, other treatments may be offered. Many factors must be taken into consideration before any treatment or surgery can be performed, as both can have a major impact on a cancer patient's prognosis. While lung cancer is generally operable, using traditional open surgery or one of the less effective invasive and more sophisticated video-assisted thoracoscopic surgeries (VATS) may often not be considered the best option for a patient. Where poor health is a factor, or the size and location of the tumor is considered a factor, other forms of treatment may need to be considered. However, other forms of treatment can also depend greatly on the type of lung. cancer in treatment and staging. Whether it is the faster-growing small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which makes up between 10% and 15% of all diagnosed cases, or the more common and faster-growing non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). slow. The most common of these treatments the options offered may include:1. Chemotherapy tends to be the conventional lung cancer treatment that everyone has heard of. Today it uses a cocktail of over 100 different drugs and works by destroying cancer cells and blocking their spread. However, although it is considered an acceptable treatment, it tends to cause many unwanted side effects.2. External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) which is usually offered when the lung cancer is considered primary or when it has metastasized (spread to other organs). This form of treatment uses a linear accelerator machine to focus a precise beam of radiation on a specific area of ​​the body for a precise period of time to kill cancer cells. While it is still widely used throughout the modern world, it is now starting to show results. be considered old and for this reason it is slowly being replaced by a series of newer and more efficient technologies. These newer technologies tend to include:1. Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) which is used to administer a precise dose of multiple fields of radiation treatment to a patient.2. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is also used by modifying the radiation beams by varying their intensity. This is a more specialized form of the 3D-CR.3 treatment. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) delivers small, high doses of high radiation to a precise target inside the body and is usually considered for early-stage lung cancer.