Chemotherapy is the primary treatment option in most cases of SCLC. It can easily control the symptoms, which are often very pronounced in this type of cancer. However, the cures are rare and most often accrue past year or two.
Not all patients can be operated on as it will depend on whether they have sufficient capacity to withstand respiratory excision of part or all of the lung and how is your general condition.
In lung cancer, often used a combination of chemotherapeutic drugs. Some of these drugs can be given by mouth or by vein. When they reach the bloodstream, these drugs are spread throughout the body and act against cancer cells, destroying them. For this reason it is very useful in those cancers that have spread to other areas.
Chemotherapy can be given as primary treatment or as therapy to aid surgery. In many cases, chemotherapy is given before surgery, with the intention of reducing the tumor volume and pave the way for a surgeon. Even at times, some inoperable lung cancers become operable after several months of chemotherapy. It is also possible to receive chemotherapy after surgery, even when the entire tumor was removed successfully. The reason is that with this strategy avoids a percentage of relapse and end up healing more long-term patients. We know this kind of cancer treatment as adjuvant chemotherapy.
The choice of treatment of first or second line depends on the type of cancer, and ranges from non-small cell cancer or small cell.
