Analyzing the Patients with Lung Cancer

Brits Devon^*
*Correspondence: Brits Devon, School of Medicine, University in Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland,

Editoral Note

Lung cancer is among the most deadly cancers for both men and women. Its death rate exceeds that of the three most common cancers combined. Over half of patients diagnosed with lung cancer die within one year of diagnosis. There are two main subtypes of lung cancer, small cell lung carcinoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma, accounting all lung cancer, non-small cell lung carcinoma is further classified into three types which are squamous-cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large-cell carcinoma.

Self-Care for Lung Cancer

Get enough sleep for 8 hours a day. Eat a balanced diet and don't skip meals. Try to do some form of activity every day. Going on walks is a great way to clear your mind and lower your stress level. See your doctor for regular checkups and stay up to date on vaccinations. It is easy to forget about going to the doctor for routine exams and screenings. Practicing preventive medicine will help you stay well so you can be a better caregiver. Stay up to date on your vaccinations. Depending on the type of cancer and its location, a combination of the following therapies is given to an individual suffering from cancer. There are different types of lung cancer treatment.

Therapies Using Medication

Treatments using medication are used to destroy cancer cells. Medication may be given through the bloodstream to reach cancer cells throughout the body. When a drug is given this way, it is called systemic therapy. Medication may also be given locally, which is when the medication is applied directly to the cancer or kept in a single part of the body. The types of medications used for nonsmall cell lung carcinoma are chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy.

Surgery

The goal of surgery is to completely remove the lung tumor and the nearby lymph nodes in the chest. The tumor must be removed with a surrounding border or margin of healthy lung tissue. A negative margin means that when the pathologist examined the lung or a piece of lung that was removed by the surgeon, no cancer was found in the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. A surgical oncologist is a doctor who specializes in treating cancer using surgery. A thoracic surgeon is specially trained to perform lung cancer surgery. There are different types of surgery which are used for non-small cell lung. The lungs have five lobes, three in the right lung and two in the left lung. A lobectomy is the removal of an entire lobe of the lung. It is currently thought to be the most effective type of surgery, even when the lung tumor is very small. Clinical trials are underway to study if less extensive surgeries have similar outcomes for tumors that are less than or equal to 2 cm. A wedge resection is termed if the surgeon cannot remove an entire lobe of the lung, the surgeon can remove the tumor, surrounded by a margin of healthy lung. Segmentectomy is another way to remove the cancer when an entire lobe of the lung cannot be removed. In a segmentectomy, the surgeon removes the portion of the lung where the cancer developed. Typically, more lung tissue and lymph nodes are removed during a segmentectomy compared to a wedge resection. If the tumor is close to the center of the chest, the surgeon may have to remove the entire lung. A pneumonectomy has more risks than a lobectomy and your doctor will need to consider the health of your heart and lungs before performing this surgery.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is the use of high energy x-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells. If you need radiation therapy, you will see a specialist called a radiation oncologist. A radiation oncologist is the doctor who specializes in giving radiation therapy to treat cancer. The most common type of radiation treatment is called external beam radiation therapy, which is radiation given from a machine outside the body. A radiation therapy regimen or schedule usually consists of a specific number of treatments given over a set period of time. This can vary from just a few days of treatment to several weeks.