Lung Cancer Chemotherapy

Death due to lung cancer is common in both the sexes. Lung cancer is more prominently seen in people who have crossed their late 40's. Cigarette smoking is said to be the reason for lung cancer. As the origin of this disease is in the lungs it is known as lung cancer. This disease can also spread to the other parts of the body. It has been found that almost 90% of lung cancer has its beginning in bronchi and this type of cancer is termed as bronchogenic carcinoma.

Two prominent types of lung cancers are Small Cell Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). They may be further divided into three different categories namely, Aden carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Large Cell Undifferentiated Carcinoma. If NSCLC is detected early it can be cured with the help of surgery.

Reasons for Lung Cancer

Smoking cigarettes is the main reason for this type of cancer. Other than cigarette smoking, exposure to radiation, chromates, coke-oven emissions, working with asbestos etc can also lead to lung cancer. Other lung related aliments like fibrosis and tuberculosis can lead to lung cancer.

What exactly is Chemotherapy

This is method of treating cancer wherein drugs are either administered into the blood by way of injection or orally in the form of pills. The mode of treatment depends entirely on the extent of the spread of the disease. In chemotherapy a combination of more than 3 different drugs are used. A resting period of about 2-4 weeks helps the patient overcome the side effects of the treatment. You can always consult your doctor and take medicines to over come the side effects of chemotherapy. Some side effects are temporary while some are of permanent nature.

Small Cell Lung Cancer and the mode of treatment

In case of small cell cancer the best treatment is to undergo chemotherapy as this gives you effective results. Surgery and radiation can also treat lung cancer, but then this will not cure you of cancer as cancer cells spread throughout the body. Chemotherapy is used before going in for radiation and sometimes doctors also advice chemotherapy along with surgery and after surgery, for the early detection and prevention of small cell lung cancer. In case of small cell lung cancer drugs like etoposide and ciplatin are used.

Non small cell lung cancer is chemotherapy the best option?

Here surgery as well as radiation therapies are used but as the spread is very negligible when it is diagnosed early doctor's prefer chemotherapy as in this mode the entire body is treated. You can always go in for chemotherapy before or after radiation as re-occurrence of cancer is less. The minimum time period to go in for chemotherapy is within six weeks of undergoing surgery. Chemotherapy with gemcitabine, vinorelbine with platinum has always been the choice where advanced non small cell lung cancer in found in the 3 rd or 4 th stage. However if the growth of cancer cells are seen after using these drugs then use of docetaxel is the next available option. Chemotherapy before undergoing surgery is known as 'neoadjuvant therapy'. As this is not the most reliable mode of treating cancer, doctor's are on a look out for a more effective method of treating lung cancer.