TREATMENTS OF LUNG CANCER

The prognosis and choice of treatment depend on the extent to which stage the cancer, tumor size or type of lung cancer.

The surgery involves removing the tumor and some tissue from the surrounding area and is often used in the early stages of the disease

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells.

Radiation therapy using high energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink the tumor.

OTHER INFORMATION

The doctor needs to know the stage of the cancer to plan treatment.

The staging of non-small cell lung involves the following steps:

Occult stage. Cancer cells are found in sputum, but you can not find any tumor in the lung.

Stage 0. The cancer is located in one area, in some cell layers only, and no growth through the lining of the lung. Another term for this type of lung cancer is “carcinoma in situ.

Stage I. The cancer is found only in the lung and is surrounded by normal tissue.

Stage II The cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.

Stage III. The cancer has spread to the chest wall or diaphragm near the lung, or the cancer has spread to lymph nodes in the area that separates the two lungs (mediastinum) lymph nodes or across the chest, or neck.

Stage IV. The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Recurrent cancer has come back after receiving treatment.

In the staging of small cell lung discusses the stages that follow:
- Limited stage: Cancer is found only in one lung and nearby lymph nodes.
Extensive stage cancer has spread outside the lung where it began to other tissues of the chest or other body parts.
- Recurrent stage. The disease has recurred after being treated, whether in the lungs or other body part.

Source: www.dmedicina.com/enfermedades/cancer/cancer-pulmon
image source: www.qualityhealth.com/resources/creative/adam/graphics/images/en/9939.jpg

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Symptoms:

The characteristic symptoms are:

• Cough or chest pain does not go away and may be accompanied by expectoration.
• A breath wheezing, shortness of breath.
• Coughing or spitting up blood.
• Hoarseness or swelling of the face or neck.
• Design or shortness of breath.
• Repeated episodes of pneumonia and bronchitis.

Although since the lungs are so large, the cancer can invade, grow and even spread them out of the lungs without any noticeable symptoms and without detection.

Types:

According to the appearance of the cells to be examined under a microscope, lung cancers can be divided into two types:

• Lung cancer, small cell. Is associated with having smoked before, having lived with a smoker or smokers or being exposed to radon. The main types of lung cancer non-small cell are named depending on the type of cells found in cancer: squamous cell carcinoma (also called squamous cell carcinoma), adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma.
• Lung cancer, small cell. Found in people who smoke or used to smoke cigarettes.

Treatment:

As with all cancers, lung cancer can be treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or the combination of the above. Treatment depends on the type of cancer and the extension.

Surgery

Surgery offers the best chance of curing lung cancer is the treatment of choice for early stage cancer in non-small cell, but not very effective for cancers at more advanced stages. Is performed when the tumor is confined to the lung and when the procedure can be performed safely. The surgery involves removing the cancer and lymph nodes in the chest. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are rarely a remedy, and usually are used to reduce advanced tumors unresectable.

The right lung has three lobes (right upper lobe, right middle lobe and right lower lobe) and left lung has two lobes (the left upper lobe and left lower lobe). Segmentectomy or wedge resection is the removal of part of the lobe, a lobectomy is the removal of the entire lobe and a pneumonectomy is the removal of the entire pulmón.La most common surgery for lung cancer is lobectomy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy involves the administration of drugs that kill cancer, usually intravenously. It can be used to shrink a cancerous tumor before surgery to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery, or cancer patients who have extensive and can not be resected. There are different chemotherapy drugs and their side effects vary depending on them. Chemotherapy alone does not cure non-small cell cancer, but it is the primary treatment for small cell lung cancer.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is an X-ray treatment that takes little time and is performed daily for several weeks. Like chemotherapy, can be performed before surgery, after surgery or after surgery. Side effects are minimal and can include fatigue, skin burns similar to those that happen when you take the sun, esophagitis and nausea. Although radiation can cure lung cancer from 5% to 10% of patients receiving therapy were considered cured.

Causes:

The following can cause damage to lung cells and lead to lung cancer:

“Smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes or passive smoking.

• Asbestos (a group of minerals that occur naturally in fiber and are used in certain industries.)
• Radon (a radioactive gas, invisible, odorless and tasteless that is on earth and the stones).

Risk Factors:

A risk factor is something that increases your chance of getting a disease or condition.

“Smoking cigars.
Pipe or cigar smoking.
“Being exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke (passive smoking), also called snuff smoke from the environment (the smoke in the air when someone else smokes.)
“Exposure to radon.
“Exposure to asbestos.
“Lung diseases such as tuberculosis (TB).
-History of lung cancer.
“Exposure to certain environmental pollutants, such as products used in the combustion of diesel and other fossil fuels, are associated with lung cancer, although the relationship is still not very clear.
Coal-dust.

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Unfortunately, radiation therapy also produces side effects, although usually limited to the area where applicable. The appearance and intensity of these side effects depends on the technique used, the total radiation dose administered, the volume of the irradiated area and susceptibility and associated diseases of each patient.

Side effects of radiation are the result of an acute inflammatory process and / or chronic localized to the skin and organs exposed to radiation. One can distinguish between general side effects of radiotherapy treatment and specific treatment of lung cancer:

- General effects:
The most important overall effect is tiredness or fatigue. Often during radiotherapy the patient is more tired than usual. Usually the result of the combined effects of treatment itself, other associated treatments and commuting to the hospital. The fatigue is temporary and disappears some time after completion of radiotherapy.

Although in most cases you can maintain normal activity levels, rest after the daily session of radiotherapy and no intense efforts or activities which may increase tiredness.

- Specific effects of the treatment area:
* Skin reactions (radiodermatitis): The radiation causes skin irritation only in the treatment area. The skin of the treated area can be altered very similar to a sunburn, although it is a rare effect with current techniques. At two or three weeks after starting therapy may appreciate the same redness (erythema). As treatment progresses, the skin area is becoming more pigmented and dark coloration, which disappears in one or two months after completion of radiotherapy.

* Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing: Radiation causes changes in the lining of the mouth and throat (thrush), and also in the lining of the esophagus (esophagitis), being contiguous to the area of treatment. This inflammation of the mucous show his face at 2-3 weeks of starting treatment, as difficulty in swallowing certain foods, fundamentally sound. This condition often improves quickly after completion of radiotherapy.

* Difficulty breathing can increase or appear de novo dry cough and mild breathing difficulty.

* Other: There may be nausea. May also occur hair loss, usually final and that only affects the chest area.

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Stage 0
At this stage do not require chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Surgery may completely remove the cancer. The type of surgery is a segmentectomy, ie the removal of a lung wedge.

Stage I
Segmentectomy is generally used for smaller tumors or for patients with worse physical condition, or lobectomy to remove the tumor.

The effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy, is being tested in clinical trials. Although micrometastases is useful for those that have not been identified and have not been removed by surgery.

If the tumor is at the edge of the lung tissue probably not have removed all the cancer cells, so radiation therapy is recommended.

Radiation therapy can be used as primary treatment if the patient, general condition, can not undergo surgery. The survival rate after five years in this stage is 65%.

Stage II
Used surgery: segmentectomy or lobectomy.

Radiation therapy can be used after surgery to ensure that it is not any cancer cells. It can also be used as primary therapy in those patients who can not be operated on by health problems. Chemotherapy may be used after surgery or radiotherapy.

The survival rate for patients who are in this stage of cancer is 40%.

Stage IIIA
Treatment at this stage will depend on where the tumor is located in the lung and whether lymph nodes are affected.

Chemotherapy is often used before surgery to shrink the tumor, to make it easier to complete removal.

When surgery can not be used to remove the tumor, radiation therapy. It is sometimes used brachytherapy which involves passing a laser through a bronchoscope to destroy part of the cancer within the trachea.

Survival rates range from 10% to 20%, although certain patients such as those with no cancer spread to lymph nodes have a better prognosis.

Stage IIIB
Because at this stage the cancer is widespread, surgery is not effective. Chemotherapy may be used together with radiotherapy. Or each one separately.

The survival rate is between 10% and 20% in those patients who enjoy a good health condition and may undergo a combination of both treatments. Those who can not, its index is 5%.

Stage IV
The aim of treatment at this stage is to alleviate the symptoms of the disease. It is not intended as a cure the cancer has spread to distant sites.

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Radiation therapy uses high energy X-radiation to destroy cancer cells. It uses a device called a linear accelerator that sends rays to the affected area only.

This lung cancer treatment is used sometimes as a primary or principal in patients who can not undergo surgery. In this case, is not to cure but slow the progression of the disease, although some exceptional cases come to heal without surgery, radiation therapy alone.

Radiation therapy to the lung is often used to relieve an airway obstruction leading to cancer.

When radiotherapy is used as a secondary treatment after surgery is primarily used to destroy cells that have not been removed.

Another use for which radiotherapy is used to relieve cancer-causing symptoms such as pain, difficulty swallowing, and so on.

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The classification of small cell lung tumors is much simpler. In this type of cancer is spoken of limited stage and extensive stage.

The limited stage means that the tumor is confined to the hemithorax of origin, the mediastinum and supraclavicular nodes. This would be tolerable in the employment field of radiotherapy.

The extended period is one in which the cancer is too widespread to be included within the definition of limited stage, ie the cancer has spread to other lung, to lymph nodes in the other breast to distant organs, and so on.

Patients with limited stage of cancer may be effectively treated with radiation therapy. In those with extensive stage is not as applicable radiotherapy.

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