Lung cancer can usually be treated through surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or immunotherapy; however some individuals also turn to complementary therapies like acupuncture and yoga in order to ease its symptoms and side effects.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to practices and therapies without scientific evidence supporting them, like acupuncture, herbal supplements and diet pills.
Chemotherapy
Your lung cancer treatment depends on its type and extent, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or medication to keep it at bay during treatment. In some instances, drugs might even be administered to help stop its return or help make you more comfortable while going through treatments.
Acupuncture involves inserting thin needles at specific points on your body to alleviate pain and promote relaxation, with evidence that it reduces nausea and vomiting in some people undergoing cancer treatments, while also relieving fatigue associated with them. Before engaging in alternative therapies such as Acupuncture it’s important to discuss them with your physician; some have not been scientifically tested, while others could cause potentially dangerous side effects.
Diet and lifestyle adjustments can significantly enhance symptoms and quality of life during lung cancer treatment, providing relief that’s tailored specifically to you and your team of care providers. They may suggest tailored diet and lifestyle solutions as part of their care plan.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors, providing an alternative to surgery for early non-small-cell lung cancer or for those unable to undergo surgery. A more advanced form of radiation known as stereotactic radiotherapy allows physicians to target tumours directly while also protecting surrounding healthy tissues from damage.
A drug called PD-L1 inhibitor may help enhance chemotherapy’s efficacy by activating your immune system to better attack cancer cells. You may take this as either a tablet or via injection into a vein; or alongside chemotherapy as part of a regimen designed to bolster this defense mechanism against disease.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy involves the use of high-energy rays similar to x-rays to kill cancer cells, using either external (known as external radiotherapy ) or internal radiotherapy, depending on which side is given treatment. External radiotherapy may be administered from outside your body (known as external radiotherapy ), or within, such as internal radiotherapy. Radiotherapy can also be used before surgery in order to shrink tumours for easier removal (known as neoadjuvant treatment), or after it in order to kill any remaining cancer cells after surgical removal (known as post op adjuvant treatment). Finally, palliative care treatment may also help control symptoms like pain or coughing up blood while slowing cancer’s spread if treatment hasn’t succeeded ( known as palliative care).
Radiation therapy requires you to lie on a treatment table beneath a large machine that moves around your body to target specific areas of lung cancer. The procedure is quick, painless and usually done over multiple sessions over a week or two. External-beam radiotherapy (EBRT), commonly combined with intensity modulated radiotherapy or stereotactic body radiotherapy techniques that use computers to target tumors with smaller doses over an extended time frame is the most popular form of radiation treatment available today.
Your body may offer you internal radiotherapy through the use of a catheter device inserted through your chest wall into your lung. A radioactive source is then placed within this catheter, emitting radiation directly onto your cancerous lung area (sometimes referred to as “brachytherapy”). Other types of internal radiotherapy treatments include radiofrequency ablation – where a needle is pressed against a tumor while radio waves travel through it to heat it and kill it – or cryotherapy, where its presence freezes away with extremely cold temperatures;
Surgery
Surgery to treat lung cancer depends on its location and stage, the patient’s overall health, and any additional treatments desired by them. Surgery may either remove cancerous tumors or help relieve symptoms associated with them.
Under surgery, your doctor will make an incision between your ribs to access your lung. Depending on the stage of cancer, minimally invasive techniques may also be used to reduce complications and optimize outcomes.
If your cancer is at its earliest stages, doctors may suggest a wedge or segmental resection to remove only part of the lung that contains both tumor and healthy margin tissue. This procedure is an attractive choice for people who do not wish to undergo more extensive lung removal surgery but is not appropriate for everyone diagnosed with early stage lung cancer.
For some cancers located in more difficult spots, surgery to remove large sections of lung may be required; such as lobectomy (removal of 1 lung), pneumonectomy (both lungs), radiofrequency ablation or microwave ablation techniques may also be employed as well as radiation therapy delivered with brachytherapy.
Your doctor may suggest stereotactic body radiation therapy as an alternative to surgery in certain instances, offering high-dose radiation doses targeted directly towards your cancer with 3-D conformal or IMRT, aiming to preserve lung function and quality of life while simultaneously treating metastatic growths or localized lung cancer that cannot be effectively addressed through other traditional forms of treatment such as surgery or chemotherapy. This form of radiotherapy offers another non-invasive solution.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy uses your body’s natural defenses against cancer to fight it, increasing how efficiently your immune system finds and destroys cancerous cells. It may be prescribed alone or combined with chemotherapy treatments; researchers are also exploring immunotherapy as a possible means of treating other cancers as well as some autoimmune conditions.
Immune systems are complex systems that need to be carefully balanced in order to protect us from overactive cells that attack healthy ones, cancer can evade immunity by disrupting this balance; immunotherapy can restore this equilibrium and empower your immune system to recognize and attack cancerous cells effectively.
Immunotherapy drugs work differently and may cause various side effects. Your cancer team will provide guidance for managing these side effects effectively and 24-hour contact numbers that you can call in case of illness or have questions – make sure these numbers are stored somewhere safe!
Immunotherapy treatments involve injecting monoclonal antibodies designed specifically to attack cancer cells with injections. One such monoclonal antibody treatment, Rituxan (rituximab), has proven highly successful against non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Other immunotherapy treatments use the immune checkpoint pathway to increase your body’s ability to detect and destroy cancer cells. Examples include PD-1 inhibitors and CTLA-4 inhibitors developed from monoclonal antibodies which block interactions between tumor cells expressing these molecules and immune cells.
Immunotherapy does not always cure lung cancer and it often takes longer than traditional therapies to take effect. Immunotherapy should never be seen as a panacea and is most successful when combined with other treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy; several factors influence whether immunotherapy will work effectively for you such as your type of cancer and its location within your body.
Targeted therapy
Cancer develops when normal cells begin to reproduce quickly and out of control, due to errors called mutations in their genes that regulate cell division. Cancer drugs target specific molecules on cancer cells to stop them from multiplying and spreading; they can either be taken orally as pills or by injection into veins; often radiotherapy and immunotherapy are combined for effective results.
Our bodies constantly produce new cells to help us grow, heal injuries and replenish worn-out tissue. However, cancer cells tend to multiply more rapidly than healthy ones and don’t die off when they should. Targeted therapies can stop cancerous cells from proliferating by blocking certain pathways they use for growth and division.
Targeted therapy drugs circulate throughout the body to kill cancerous cells while sparing healthy ones. They can be combined with chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormone therapy treatments as part of cancer therapies.
Doctors typically administer targeted therapy in cycles for lung cancer treatment. You’ll take a drug for several days at a time before having a break to allow your body to adjust. In total, four or six cycles may be necessary over three to six months.
Targeted therapy drugs may increase your risk of blood clots; your physician can advise on ways to lower this risk, and may suggest medications to thin your blood.
Complementary therapies may help alleviate some of the symptoms of cancer treatment and its side effects, including pain, fatigue and loss of appetite. They may also help you relax and sleep more soundly – however before embarking on any complementary therapy journey it is essential that you discuss this option with your cancer team as they can determine whether this approach is safe and will not impede on care provided to you.
