What is the role of radiotherapy for lung cancer? Detailed explanation of the 4 roles of radiotherapy for lung cancer

Inoperable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer should be treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Recent foreign reports have shown that concurrent chemoradiotherapy is more effective than sequential chemoradiotherapy for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. It has now become the standard treatment for patients with this stage of lung cancer in some European and American countries.

There are many ways to treat lung cancer, the most common ones are medication, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. What is the role of radiotherapy for lung cancer? For which lung cancer patients can radiotherapy effectively relieve the condition? This is a question that many patients are concerned about. Let's take a look at the introduction made by experts:

1. Early stage non-small cell lung cancer:

Surgery should be the first choice for early stage non-small cell lung cancer. However, for patients with cardiopulmonary or medical diseases who cannot undergo surgery, radiotherapy is a treatment method with low toxicity and reliable efficacy. Some patients are cured by radiotherapy alone. The use of stereotactic radiotherapy or conformal intensity modulated radiotherapy will further improve the efficacy and significantly reduce radiation damage to normal tissues.

2. Postoperative radiotherapy:

For lung cancer patients with postoperative pathological confirmation of residual tumor, positive resection margin and mediastinal lymph node metastasis, postoperative radiotherapy can significantly reduce the local recurrence rate of tumor and improve the survival rate and quality of life.

3. Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer:

Inoperable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer should be treated with a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Recent foreign reports have shown that concurrent chemoradiotherapy is more effective than sequential chemoradiotherapy for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. It has now become the standard treatment for patients with this stage of lung cancer in some European and American countries.

4. Advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Chemotherapy should be the main treatment, and radiotherapy should only be used as a palliative treatment method. Radiotherapy has an analgesic effect of more than 80% on bone metastasis and can effectively prevent the occurrence of paralysis caused by spinal metastasis. Whole brain irradiation and stereotactic radiotherapy for brain metastasis can have a good effect of reducing symptoms and improving the quality of life. Radiotherapy can also significantly relieve symptoms such as cough, dyspnea, and superior vena cava syndrome caused by tumors.

Through the introduction of the previous experts, we know that the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy on lung cancer patients at different stages is also different. What kind of treatment method should lung cancer patients choose and how to standardize the treatment should be determined by the doctor's diagnosis before making a scientific choice! Lung cancer patients should not be blind in choosing treatment methods, and do not blindly follow others!