Treatment for lung cancer is typically coordinated by a patient’s cancer care team. The team may be headed by a medical oncologist and can include a surgeon and radiation oncologist.  Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is usually treated with surgery at the early stages. Wherever possible, only the tumors are removed. However, in cases of the cancer spreading in the lung, a lobe or an entire lung may be removed. Treatment of lung cancer can include one or more of the following options:

• Surgery. For NSCLC, surgery is recommended for stages 0 through IIIA. Beyond that, metastasis precludes using surgery. These operations involve thoracotomy, a surgical incision through the chest, after general anesthesia. The following procedures are options that depend on the extent of spread through the lung:
  
  
• Lobectomy. An entire lobe of one lung is removed. This is the most common lung cancer surgery performed.
  
  
• Wedge resection (also called segmentectomy). Only the tumor and small portion of surrounding normal lung tissue is removed.
  
  
• Pneumonectomy. Surgery to remove an entire lung. This surgical procedure will result in reduced lung capacity and is preformed only when absolutely necessary and if the patient’s remaining lung can sufficiently function alone.
  
  
• Radiation therapy. Use of precise x-ray radiation focused directly on the tumor to kill or shrink tumor cells, while avoiding contamination of the surrounding healthy cells. External radiation is directed from a machine outside of the body to the site of the tumor inside the body. Internal radiation (brachytherapy) involves putting radioactive “seeds” in or near the tumor site. Radiation may be used as a primary treatment of cancer, particularly if the patient is not healthy enough to undergo surgery. It also may be used to kill any cancer cells that remain in the area after surgery.
  
  
• Chemotherapy. Powerful drugs that are take either orally or intravenously to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy is absorbed into the bloodstream and carried throughout the body and is typically used if cancer has spread from the initial site to other parts of the body.

Radiation and chemotherapy can be used in addition to surgery to prevent a return of cancer cells. Radiation is usually used after surgery. Chemotherapy is not as effective as radiation therapy. Chemotherapy and radiation may be recommended for stages I through IV.

Other possible treatments for NSCLC include:

• Laser therapy. Laser beams (narrow stream of intense light) are used to kill cancer cells.
  
  
• Cryotherapy (also called cryosurgery). A treatment that freezes and destroys cancer tissue.
  
  
• Photodynamic therapy. A cancer treatment that uses drugs that activate when exposed to light at which point the cells die.
  
  
• Chemoprevention. The use of drugs, vitamins and other substances to reduce the risk of developing or recurring cancer.
  
  
• Clinical trials. A physician may recommend participation in a clinical trial that will test new experimental treatments. Patients in all stages of lung cancer can seek to participate in such trials because of the limitations of standard treatments. Experimental therapies may include biological therapy (also called immunotherapy), gene therapy and angiogenesis inhibitors.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) usually has spread beyond the lungs by the time it is diagnosed. For this reason, surgery is seldom recommended. Chemotherapy is often recommended with or without radiation. Other treatment options for small cell lung cancer:

• Brain prophylactic radiation. Radiation therapy used to reduce the chance of tumors spreading to the brain. Small cell lung cancer often spreads to the brain.
  
  
• Clinical trials
  
  
• Comfort (palliative) care