Lung cancer can be treated by various therapies that are often used in combination to provide optimal outcomes for patients. Surgical resection is the surgical process in which the tumor, and is usually recommended if the cancer has not metastasized (or spread) outside the lungs to other parts of the body.

There are several options for doing that may involve resection of minimally invasive surgery or full operation. The technique used will depend on many factors, especially the size and stage of cancer and tumors are accessible to a surgeon.

Thoracotomy performed by a surgeon makes an incision through the chest wall and the average sternotomy performed by entering the chest cavity through the sternum. The second method is usually used in surgery for lung cancer, but they simply involve the discomfort and prolonged patient stay in hospital with a recovery period longer.

Alternative operating procedures including anterior limited Thoracotomy (ALT) which involves a small incision to allow entry, again through the front of the chest. It should be emphasized that the incision is much smaller than the standard or average Thoracotomy sternotomy. An alternative is the anterior axillary Thoracotomy (AAT) which involves a small incision in the chest near the armpit, but eventually, there was postero-lateral Thoracotomy (PLT) which involves the incision of the patient’s back or side of the trunk.

Even with this improved surgical techniques, a patient will experience pain big enough if the operation involves opening the chest (sometimes called the doctor as “cracking the chest”).

As a consequence of prolonged recovery and the patient discomfort, surgical techniques have been developed that do not involve large-scale operation – it is called, minimal-invasive technique.

Video-assisted thoracoscopy (VAT) using a high powered video cameras and hi-definition screen in combination with the diagnostic scans, such as CT or PET scans, to target tumors in the lungs of patients. Incision is required is much smaller and do not need to open the chest cavity resulting in much less discomfort for patients and greatly reduced recovery period. Using the video display, the surgeon can resect the tumor that had been identified during the diagnosis stage and phase.

Some doctors do caution, however the use of VAT, as the traditional Thoracotomy can reveal tumors and other metastatic cancers that have not been found in the scans and initial diagnosis. If this still has not found the cancer can return and the patient will become sick again and for this reason, VAT is usually recommended for early stage (I & II) and cancer has not spread to other parts of the lungs and body.

This is very normal for any surgical procedure must be accompanied by a phase of chemotherapy or radiation treatments to ensure that cancer patients have been completely removed or killed. How the treatment and at what stage a particular therapy will be recommended will be determined by the type and stage of lung cancer patients have.

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Surgery is an operation to remove the cancer. The type of surgery the doctor performs depends on the location of the tumor in the lung. An operation to remove only a small part of the lung is called a segmental or wedge resection. When the surgeon removes an entire lobe of the lung, the procedure is called a lobectomy. Pneumonectomy is the removal of an entire lung. Some tumors are inoperable (can not be removed by surgery) because of the size or site, and some patients can not have surgery for other medical reasons.

Chemotherapy is the use of anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body. Even after it has been removed lung cancer, cancer cells may still be present in nearby tissue or elsewhere in the body. Chemotherapy may be used to control cancer growth or to relieve symptoms. Most anticancer drugs are given by injection into a vein (intravenously) or through a catheter, a thin tube is placed into a large vein and remains there for as long as necessary. Some anticancer drugs are given as pills or tablets.

Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy targets a limited area and affects the cancer cells only in that area. Radiation therapy can be used before surgery to shrink a tumor or after surgery to kill any cancer cells left in the treated area. Doctors also use radiation therapy, often combined with chemotherapy as primary treatment instead of surgery. Radiation therapy can also be used to relieve symptoms such as shortness of breath. Radiation for the treatment of lung cancer most often comes from a machine (external radiation). Radiation can also come from an implant (a small container of radioactive material) placed directly into or near the tumor (internal radiation).

Photodynamic therapy, a type of laser therapy, involves the use of a special chemical is injected into the bloodstream and is absorbed by cells all over the body. The chemical rapidly leaves normal cells but remains longer in cancer cells. A laser light directed to the cancer reacted chemical compound, which then kills the cancer cells that have absorbed. Photodynamic therapy can be used to reduce symptoms of lung cancer, for example, to control bleeding or to relieve breathing problems due to breathing pathways are blocked when the cancer can not be removed by surgery. Photodynamic therapy can also be used to treat very small tumors in patients for whom regular treatments for lung cancer are not adequate.

Clinical trials (research studies) to evaluate new ways to treat cancer are an option for many patients with lung cancer. In some studies, all patients receive the new treatment. In others, doctors compare different therapies by giving the new treatment to a patient group therapy and regular (standard) to another group. Through research, doctors are exploring new ways and possibly more effective to treat lung cancer.

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Treatment for these patients consist of a combination of several techniques that are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Each of them will be more effective than the other depending on the type of cancer and the stage where they are. In fact, treatment depends on four factors: the type and extent of spread of the tumor, the patient’s health status and functional status of the various body systems (heart, liver, kidney, neurological, etc.)..

Lung cancer surgery is the treatment modality most likely to be curative, therefore, is resorted to if all of the cancer can not be removed and respiratory status of the patient to tolerate the removal of the portion of lung to be removed.

Small cell lung cancers are very rarely operate, since it is almost always diagnosed extensive stage when only limited is operable. Approximately half of non-small lung cancers can be removed due to its extension. It is therefore essential that there are no lymph metastasis and central area of the chest (mediastinum) are free of tumor and the tumor has not invaded ineradicable structures as the trachea, the aorta or the pleura.

You can remove only a small portion of the lung, if the tumor is very localized, to be called wedge resection or segmentectomy.

If you removed a lobe of the lung is called lobectomy.

If you remove the entire lung, it is called pneumonectomy.

The patient will be admitted after the operation for one or two weeks. Some will need physical therapy to regain normal lung capacity soon.

After this period back home with some limitations. Among the possible complications of the surgery are bleeding, wound infection and pneumonia.

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