Treatments

Concerning the treatment of lung cancer, a lung cancer is divided into not-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the generic term for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), adenocarcinoma and big cell lung cancer, and small cell lung cancer.

Treatment of not-small cell lung cancer:

• An Operation is the preferred method to remove not-small cell lung tumors and keeping healthy lung-tissue intact. But this can only be done when the cancer has not started spreading yet.
• Radiaton therapy or a Chemoradiotherapie (combination of radiation therapy and chemo therapy) are alternative treatments to inoperable cases. The radiation beams are aimed at the tumor from the outside.
• Chemotherapy is a special drug medication which inhibits the cells to split and grow and therefore also slow down or even stop the tumor from growing. On the other hand the medication also effects the healthy cells, especially the fast growing cells (e.g. Haematopoiesis), which can suffer under this therapy.

Research has widened the spectrum of lung cancer therapies. Specific research on the functioning of the cell enabled new methods on the treatment of lung cancer such as Apoptosis; the prevention of the cell to grow or even introducing a cell death. According drugs, Gefitinib and Erlotinib (Tarceva®), have been out on the market since 2005. They bind to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase, thereby cutting off the signals of the cell-growing transmitter. These drugs seem to have a long-lasting effect; the cells do not resume growing after discontinuing the medication.

Treatment of small cell lung cancer:

Small cell lung cancer spreads quickly to surrounding tissue and organs. An operation would be ineffective. This form of cancer is treated with chemotherapy. This therapy has also proven to achieve better results for the treatment of small cell lung cancer, than for non-small cell lung cancer. However, in some cases small cell lung cancer can still be removed in an operation. This stage of lung cancer is called

"limited disease" (LD). In this stage the tumor has not yet metastasized and an operation is possible in 1 out of 10 cases. An accompanied chemotherapy is nevertheless a necessity.

The "extensive disease" (ED) indicates the spreading out of the cancer to more than half of the chest area and the growth of metastasis. In this case an operation is not possible anymore and the tumor is treated with chemotherapy. In 1 out of 5 cases this treatment is successful. Lung Cancer with only one lobe of the lung affected is treated best with the combination of a chemo-radiation therapy and the intake of Carboplatin and Etoposide phosphate. Taxane, IrInotecan, Topotecan und Gemcitabin still have to undergo some testing before they can be included in the small cell lung cancer treatment.