Guide To Effective Lung Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment

Radiosurgery

Radiosurgery is a good alternative to traditional open surgery because no large incisions are required. Radiosurgery involves placing small pieces of metal referred to as fiducials around the cancerous tissue between one and three weeks before the treatment session to mark the area for the machine to follow. A large needle is typically used to place the fiducials in the body. This is why incisions are not required.

Radiosurgery works by using high doses of radiation for longer sessions to damage and kill cancer cells. Radiation beams in radiosurgery are aimed at the area where the cancerous tissue is located from multiple different angles simultaneously. This is what makes it a more targeted and powerful radiation method. Radiosurgery is really an advanced form of radiation therapy administered by a certain technique and process in fewer sessions than traditional radiation therapy.

Targeted Therapy

Some individuals with lung cancer may receive targeted therapy as a treatment. This cancer treatment involves drugs that focus on specific abnormalities in their cancer cells. Thus, target therapy helps kill cancer cells without damaging others. Some targeted therapy treatments will only work when an individual’s cancer cells have specific genetic mutations. Thus, this is often not the first lung cancer treatment chosen. In fact, although there is a variety of drugs used in targeted therapy, most patients who receive them have advanced cancer or cancer that keeps recurring.