Lung Cancer Treatment | Apollo Cancer Centres

Surgery plays a major role in the complete cure of lung cancer. With the advent of technology and the latest developments, Minimally Invasive Thoracoscopic Surgery has become the mainstay of treatment and helps the patient to recover at the earliest.

Minimal invasive Thoracoscopic surgery includes Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) and Robotic Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (RATS) which can be multi-portal where two to three holes are made in the chest or uni-portal where the complete surgery is performed through a single hole.

Segmental resection -Removal of a portion of the lung lobe, but not an entire lobe.
Lobectomy - Removal of the entire lobe of one lung
Sleeve resection - Lung parenchyma preservation surgery
Pneumonectomy - Removal of an entire lung

Use of high-powered energy beams from sources of X-rays and protons to kill cancer cells. The machine moves around, directing radiation to precise points on the body. It is often used in combination with Chemotherapy or when surgery is not an option.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) - It is a form of radiation therapy used in very early stage lung cancer. SBRT is an intense radiation treatment that is very useful in the case of moving tumors like lung tumors. The patient can breathe normally while being treated as the robot follows the motion of the tumor and treats it.
High precision techniques like Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), Image guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) and Volumetric Modulated Arc therapy (VMAT/Rapid Arc) are useful in targeting the tumor accurately and avoiding normal tissue injury.

Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses chemicals to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy drugs travel throughout the body, killing cancer cells that may have spread beyond the primary site of the tumor.
Chemotherapy can be given along with radiation or post-surgery in case of localized disease and as a standalone therapy or in combination with immunotherapy in metastatic diseases. Chemotherapy can produce rapid symptom relief in some patients with advanced diseases.

Targeted therapy uses drugs that attack specific abnormalities within cancer cells. Targeted drugs used to treat lung cancer are decided based on the genetic makeup of the tumor tissue and are usually used in advanced cancer.
These genetic alterations are more commonly seen in non-smokers and women. There are oral medications available for patients with these genetic mutations. These tablets are more tolerable and easier for the patients. The option of targeted drugs also exists in the adjuvant setting after surgery.

Immunotherapy is a drug treatment that uses the immune system to fight cancer. The body's disease-fighting immune system may not attack the cancer cells because they produce proteins that blind the immune system from recognizing the cancer cells. Immunotherapy works by interfering with that process.
Immunotherapy is used in advanced lung cancer either in combination with chemotherapy or as a single agent. The tumor tissue can be tested for biomarkers to understand the benefit a patient might derive from immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy can also be used in localized disease after chemoradiation as adjuvant therapy.