Treatment of metastatic lung cancer
Treatment of small cell lung cancer is based on chemotherapy. With some patients, this can also be combined with radiation therapy.
Treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is determined by the subtype of the cancer, the genetic factors of the cancer, the patient’s functional capacity, and any other diseases the patient may have. In approximately 70% of cases, NSCLC has locally advanced or metastasized and is therefore not suitable for surgical treatment.
Appropriate medical treatment according to the diagnosis and possibly also radiation therapy will be administered as treatment for slowing down the progression of metastatic lung cancer. Smoking decreases the efficacy of chemotherapy medication and radiation therapy.
Pharmaceutical treatment of lung cancer
Chemotherapy agents are drugs that prevent cell division, and chemotherapy with different mechanisms of action can be administered simultaneously to increase efficacy. Chemotherapy particularly affects rapidly dividing cells such as cancer cells. They also affect the division of healthy cells and tissue renewal, resulting in the adverse effects caused by chemotherapy. The faster the renewal of the affected tissue (such as hair, mucous membranes, bone marrow that produces blood and the immune defense cells), the more distinct the adverse effects are as well.
Immunological cancer drugs are intravenously administered agents that affect the body’s defense system. Their purpose is to improve the function of defensive cells and to reveal cancer cells for identification by the defensive cells. This is not only a medical treatment targeting cancer cells, but effects can also be seen elsewhere in the body as adverse effects.
Some patients with lung cancer will benefit from immunological drug therapy, even if it is long-term, but the treatment is not curative. However, not all subtypes of lung cancer benefit from immunological drugs or the patient may not be suitable for the therapy. The immunological cancer drug is used either alone or in combination with cytotoxic agents.
In a small percentage of patients, approximately 10–15%, the cancer has developed in relation to a known genetic defect, i.e. a mutation, which enables so-called targeted drug therapy. These mutations are more common in lung cancers in non-smokers or patients who have only smoked a small amount.
Currently, treatments that permanently cure metastasized lung cancer are not known.