Cancer in the lungs actually affects more people than most of other cancers. The Mayo Clinic states it is the biggest producer of cancer deaths each year in the United States and affects both women and men. Smoking is one of the primary causes of the disease, and despite how long you have smoked, quitting can help prevent lung cancer from developing in your body.
Targeted Medications
There are new types of medications used in the treatment of lung cancer. These are called targeted drug therapies because abnormalities that occur in cells of cancer are targeted. There are two main types of these medicines, the Mayo Clinic reports. Bevacizumab works by preventing tumorous cells from making their own connections to your bloodstream. This starves the tumors of nutrients and oxygen, which helps prevent their growth. The other targeted drug is called erlotinib. It functions by preventing specific chemicals from allowing division and growth of cancer cells.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the more traditional use of medicines designed to destroy cancer cells in your lungs. These may be administered through pills or via injection. Chemotherapy usually involves various combinations of drugs used together to fight lung cancer. While the Mayo Clinic states there often are no side effects during treatment, they can occur following treatment. There usually are waiting periods between doses of chemotherapy drugs for this reason.
Radiation
Radiation may be used in two ways to kill lung cancer cells. The first is the more common direction of high-powered energy beams at your lungs from outside your body. These are most often X-rays. However, radiation therapy also may be administered via catheters, seeds and needles to work on the cancer cells inside your body. This is called brachytherapy.
Surgery
There are four main types of surgical procedures to remove lung cancer cells from your body. The first is called a wedge resection which takes out the portion of your lung in which tumors are present, as well as some healthy tissue. Segmental resection takes more of your lung, but leaves part of the lung lobe in place. A lobectomy removes one lung lobe, and a pneumonectomy takes out the lung in its entirety.
