There are main two types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Lung cancer treatment depends on the stage of lung cancer, whether lung cancer has spread in your body or not, your age, your general health and the side effects the treatment may cause. Here, we discuss about treatment options for lung cancer:
Surgery
Surgery is generally considered in cases where cancer has not much spread in the body. Doctors remove the part of non-small cell lung cancer containing tumor and the tissues around it. In some cases, the entire lung is removed.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation Therapy involves the use of high energy X-Rays or other particles with the purpose of destroying cancer cells. In external-beam radiation therapy, the radiation is given from a machine outside the body. It cannot be used to treat widespread cancer as it only destroys cancer cells directly in the way of the radiation beam.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is one of the most common ways for treatment of lung cancer. It uses anti cancer drugs to kill cancer cells. One or more drugs may be given through a vein in your arm or are given orally. The combination of drugs is given in a series of treatments over a period of time. The commonly used chemotherapy drugs include Carboplatin, Cisplatin, Paclitaxel, Vinblastine and more.
Biological Therapy
In biological therapy, body’s immune system is used to treat cancer. The doctors test the tumor following a biopsy to determine whether it can respond to certain biological therapies or not. The biological therapies commonly used to treat lung cancer: Afatinib, Bevacizumab, Crizotinib, and Tarceva.
Immunotherapy is also used as the treatment for lung cancer. It uses the immune system of the patient to fight cancer cells.
Targeted Therapy
It uses drugs to block the growth of cancer cells. The drugs can be pills or medicines given in your veins.
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