Treatment for Lung Cancer

How to Treat Lung Cancer

The treatment for lung cancer depends on different factors, most important of these factors being the type of cancer (histopathologic) and the stage of the cancer

Once this is known the doctor and the patient then work together to determine a treatment plan that is suitable for the patient putting the following factors into consideration

The general health of the patient

The patient’s possible medical condition that can hamper the treatment (such as chemotherapy)

The characteristics of the tumor

With the characteristics of the lung tumor the doctor will be able to tell what group the patient belongs to, whether the patient is of high risk of cancer recurrence or low risk of it.

There are three main treatments for cancer, they are as follows:

Surgery

Surgery is the oldest treatment for cancer. When it is in its first and second stage and has not spread to other organs (metastasized) the patient could be cured by surgically removing the tumor and the nearby lymph nodes completely.
After cancer has spread, it is almost impossible to remove all the cancer cells

Lung cancer surgery is performed by a specially trained thoracic surgeon

There are two types of surgeries. The curative which is for early stage cancer that removes all the cancerous tissue and the pallative which only remove an obstruction so the airway is free just to make the patient comfortable and not necessarily removing the cancer

Surgical treatment could cause a problem to the surrounding parts which could lead to pain and infection.

Options are given by the doctor that could relief the pain and antibiotics are used to prevent infections from the wound of the surgery or elsewhere

Radiation

Radiation or radiotherapy tries to destroy or shrinks lung cancer tumors by concentrating high-energy rays on the cancer cells. This damages the molecules that makes up the cancer cells and force them to death.

Radiotherapy can either be used as main treatment for lung cancer, added to surgery to kill remaining cells or kill cancer cells that have spread to other organ (metastasized)

The side effects of Radiation

As radiation is used to kill cancer cells especially in it early stage it could also kill normal healthy cells. Though with improved technology this has been curtailed and beams can now target cancer cells more accurately

Lung cancer treatment takes effect in weeks or months depending on the size of the tumor and the level of radiation and whether or not damages where done to non cancerous cells

Some common effects of radiation are: nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, hair loss, dry, irritated and sensitive skin

Chemotherapy

NSCLC and SCLC could be treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy refers to the administration of drugs that stop cancer cells from growing either by killing them or preventing them from dividing

Chemotherapy could be administered alone in place of surgery, or combined with radiotherapy

Several drugs have been developed for the treatment of lung cancer but the class of drugs called platinum has been found to be the best in the treatment of lung cancers

Chemo is good treatment for SCLC because the tumors are already widespread in the body when diagnosed

Survival rate of SCLC patients is greatly increased by four to five times but without it only half of it patient can survive for four months.

Chemotherapy alone cannot treat NSCLC effective except that it can be used to prolong survival in many cases when it has metastasized

Chemotherapy could be in form of pills, intravenous infusion or a combination of both. Chemo drugs are given in series referred to as cycles – over a period of weeks or months with a break in between

Side effects of Chemotherapy

The drugs used also kill healthy tissue hence it side effect. When blood cells are damaged it could result in increased susceptibility to infections and difficulties with blood clotting

Other possible effects of chemo are: hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and mouth sores

Side effects of chemotherapy vary depending on the drugs and dosage used and the individual taking it

There are medications now that can prevent or cure these side effects of chemo. Though all the side effect usually disappear during recovery of the treatment or upon completion of it

Other lung cancer treatments

Researchers have continued to search for ways to improve the treatment for lung cancer and eliminate most of the side effects. So they have designed targeted therapies that will only treat cancer cells without affecting normal and healthy cells

There are also lung cancer vaccines that transform cancer cells so they are no more cancerous

These targeted therapies are also known as immuno therapies because it more like it gives the immune system more power so it can fight the disease.

I hope you find this article on the treatment for lung cancer helpful. I wish you the best in your fight against the deadly disease called Cancer

Signs of lung cancer

This article outline some common signs of lung cancer so you can watch out for these signs and be able to detect cancer at it early stage, because when cancer is detected early there is a 50% survival rate after 5 years compared to 15% survival rate for lung cancer
So awareness of lung cancer signs is the key to surviving the deadly disease
The signs of lung cancer start gradually and blow up as it spreads. It early signs can be mistaken for something else and not taken seriously

 However, do go for a checkup when you are experiencing chest pain, wheezing, bouts of bronchitis or a consistent chronic cough that you can not attribute to anything like fever, virus or flu

Some later Signs of Lung Cancer

Once lung cancer has spread beyond the bronchia it signs broadens and changes drastically. It symptoms is dependant on the position of the lesions that settles into the tissue of the lung first. For instance, the signs for cancer that has circulated to the brain among other signs are blurred vision, stroke and migraines.
And these are symptoms that could be associated to other illnesses or diseases.

 The advice is once you are experiencing a serious symptom, do not assume to know what is causing it, visit your doctor to be sure of the reason for the symptoms you are having.

 Also signs such as shoulder pain, difficult in swallowing, depression, weight loss, and fatigue should not be dismissed.

 See your doctor as a friend, so you do not always feel reluctant to pay a visit or give him a call whenever you are experience something unusual and persistent; especially take the signs seriously if you are a smoker or ex-smoker and have been expose to carcinogens for long

See your doctor if you are experiencing the following signs:

• Undue weight loss
• Difficulty in breathing
• Persistent respiratory infection
• Chest pain
• Undue fatigue
• Wheezing
• Undue chronic cough

 Do not forget that you are experiencing these symptoms because your immune system is trying to fight the disease
Unfortunately, records have shown that 25% of lung cancer patients do not experience any of these symptoms. This fact has made annual checkup very important. Do not think you are in good health because you look and feel healthy. See your doctor at least once a year for a general checkup.

 The above mentioned signs of lung cancer are just the common signs, you could expereince some signs not mentioned here. Consult your doctor for any unwaranted symptoms you experience   

Causes of Lung Cancer

What causes Lung Cancer?
Smoking is number one on the list of causes of lung cancer. Infact about 90% of lung cancers arise as a result of tobacco use. Lung cancer started it rise in the 1930’s when tobacco smoking become popular among young men and women. The risk of lung cancer in smokers is 10-20 times higher than those who have never smoked.

Cigarette Smoking and Lung Cancer
Cigarette smoking contains more than 4,000 different chemicals, 80 of which are known carcinogens and others increase the cancer-causing power of the carcinogen.

Secondhand smokers (those who do not smoke but inhale the smell) are also affected by many of these chemicals, which make secondhand smoke a cause of lung cancer

According to a report in 1993, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said secondhand smoking causes 3,000 lung cancer deaths among non smokers every year

When a person smokes, the burning tobacco (cigarette) containing high concentration of carcinogens circulates into the air and it is inhaled by the smokers and those around them.
Men who smoke are 22 times more at risk of developing lung cancer while women who smoke are 12 times more at risk.
The longer and more cigarettes a person smokes, the more at risk the person is and if the person quits smoking, the chances of developing lung cancer and other smoking related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis reduce steadily each year because the abnormal cells will become replaced by normal cells. And as the person keeps to the new habit of no smoking, his risk decreases to a level of 30-50 percent of those who continue to smoke.

The risk of lung cancer at 5 years after quitting smoking is divided by half of what it used to be before quitting

Radon and Lung Cancer
Radon (air borne) is another cause of lung cancer. Radon is a problem that has been detected in every state in the US and EPA records shows that 1 of every 15 homes in US has a radon level that is at or above it recommended guideline of four picocuries per liter of air on a yearly average. Schools and workplaces are also at risk

Since radon is invisible and odorless people can not tell when they are being exposed to it except when it level is measured.
A smoker that is also been exposed to radon has a greater health risk generally.

Asbestos and Lung Cancer
Another common cause of cancer is an industrial substance known as Asbestos and it is the most common substance associated with lung cancer

Other Causes of Lung cancer
Other air borne carcinogens found in the office and at home are: Uranium, arsenic, and chromium. Continuous exposure of the lung tissues to carcinogens causes gene mutations that affect each cell’s ability to maintain normal growth and divisions. When numbers of cells affected increases the mutated cells keeps dividing beyond control and forms a tumor.

Other things that can increase a person’s risk are: certain forms of insulation, repairing brakes and certain environments, like an environment with a coke oven

When smoking is combine with carcinogens, the risk of developing lung cancer is very greatly increased.

These are the common known causes of lung cancer.

Lung cancer can also be caused by genetic predisposition.

Facts about Lung Cancer

What is lung cancer?
Cancer is a class of diseases resulting from uncontrollable cell growth that does not die. Naturally, regular cells follow a process which is growth, division and death. When this process is interrupted, that is instead of the cells dying, it grows continuously and divides, forming lumps of tissues called tumors, cancer begins, because the tumor interferes with the function of the lungs which is to provide the blood stream with oxygen for the entire body.

 Types of Tumors

 Benign Tumor – This is when a tumor stays in a spot demonstrating limited growth

 Malignant Tumor – This is formed when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body through the blood stream

 When it spreads and continues to grow destroying healthy tissues then the tumor is said to have metastasized

Malignant tumors are very difficult to treat

 Lung cancer is said to be of the lungs when the cancer originates with the lungs

 The list of those diagnosed of lung cancer keeps increasing everyday. In 2007 statistics shows that of all the people diagnosed of cancer 15% of them have lung cancer and of all cancer death recorded, 29% were of lung cancer

 Lung cancer is presently the leading cause of death for men and second cause of death for women. The rise in the rate of lung cancer can be attributed to the rise in the number of smokers. We only hope that the numbers will reduce in the future since serious awareness programs are now being carried out

 Lung cancer is almost always found in older people (60 and above) that is because it takes a long period for it to develop

 Classification of Lung Cancer

 Lung cancer is classified into two parts:

• Non – small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
•  Small cell lung cancer (SCLC)

The Non small cell lung cancer is the most common and is responsible for 80% of lung cancer cases while the small cell lung cancer is responsible for 20%

 There are four different types of Non – small cell lung cancer and they are as follows:

• Squamous cell carcinoma
•  Adenocarcinoma
• Bronchioalveolar carcinoma (small cell or oat cell)
• Large – cell undifferentiated carcinoma

 More than 95 percent of lung cancers belong to the bronchogenic carcinoma . The small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is of small cells that multiply rapidly forming large tumor that moves through the body system. Smoking is largely responsible for SCLC

 

It is essential that a person knows the kind of lung cancer he/she has because just as there are different types of cancers, symptoms varies and so is it treatments.