Treatments for Non-Small Cell, Early-Stage Lung Cancer

As a thoracic surgeon with the Starr-Wood Cardiothoracic Surgery Group in Portland, Oregon, Jonathan Daniel, MD, has published a number of articles related to the treatment of lung cancer. In 2011, Jonathan Daniel, MD, presented a lecture on the treatment of early-stage lung cancer at the 20th Annual Southwest Conference on Medicine.

Non-small cell lung cancer makes up 85 percent of all lung cancer cases. It advances more slowly than small cell cancers and may not prove symptomatic in its earliest stages.

The staging of a tumor depends the location and size of the tumor, as well as if and where the cancer has spread. The earliest possible stage is occult, or hidden, cancer, in which the body has started to produce cancer cells that have not yet developed into a tumor. In these pre-tumor states, treatment often consists of surgical removal of the presenting abnormal cells, although some situations may instead call for internal radiation, laser therapy, or other alternative treatments.

If the cancer has developed and a tumor has formed, but the tumor has not yet spread beyond the lungs, diagnosis is that of stage 1. Surgery is the most common treatment for these early-stage cancers and most often involves removing the section of lung that contains the tumor. Some patients may receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy after surgery, while some undergo external radiation as an alternative to surgical intervention.