What treatment is suitable for patients with advanced lung cancer? Experts explain the most effective method of lung cancer treatment

Patients with advanced lung cancer are suitable for chemotherapy and radiotherapy

What methods can effectively treat lung cancer? Lung cancer is a serious malignant tumor of the respiratory system. We should try to detect lung cancer in its early stages and then actively treat it. Many lung cancer patients suffer great harm because they are not discovered in time at the early stages. So what methods can effectively treat lung cancer?

What are the effective treatments for lung cancer?

1. Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment:

TCM treatment is based on the principles of softening and dispersing nodules, strengthening the body and eliminating evil, and treating both the symptoms and the root causes. On the one hand, it can effectively kill and restrain cancer cells and alleviate the condition. On the other hand, it can also regulate the patient's whole body and treat the disease based on syndrome differentiation, effectively improve clinical symptoms and enhance the body's immunity. TCM treatment plays a leading role in the treatment of advanced lung cancer.

2. Chemoradiotherapy:

70% of patients with advanced lung cancer have their symptoms alleviated after radiotherapy. External radiotherapy with different doses and fractions can relieve local symptoms of primary or metastatic lesions. However, since radiotherapy can also cause damage to normal cells, radiotherapy should be used with caution in patients with advanced lung cancer who have very weak physical functions.

3. Surgical treatment:

This is the most effective treatment method for early lung cancer, but surgical treatment causes great trauma to the patient and is not suitable for the treatment of late-stage lung cancer. It often only treats the symptoms and not the root cause. Patients with weak constitutions often cannot withstand it, and it should never be forced into treatment.

Experts help you understand lung cancer treatment

This year is the ninth International Lung Cancer Awareness Month. The theme of this year is still to stay away from tobacco and prevent lung cancer. Social publicity and popular science education on tobacco control and lung cancer prevention are being carried out all over the world. Knowledge on lung cancer prevention and treatment is introduced to the society and the people through the media.

1. Lung cancer should be staged before treatment

If you have lung cancer, don't rush to seek treatment. Scientific and correct clinical staging is the prerequisite for standardized treatment of lung cancer. Before lung cancer treatment, various staging examinations must be performed, and then the treatment plan can be discussed.

Accurate clinical staging helps doctors develop scientific and reasonable treatment plans for lung cancer patients, so that those lung cancer patients who have distant metastasis and should not undergo surgery can avoid the pain of open-chest surgery; and those lung cancer patients who originally did not have metastasis can receive timely and scientific surgical treatment.

The examination method to judge whether lung cancer is in the early, middle or late stages, and to understand the size, location, invasion range, invasion of surrounding tissues and organs, and metastasis to other organs outside the lungs, is what we often call the clinical staging of lung cancer. As lung cancer is prone to brain metastasis, bone metastasis, and abdominal organ metastasis, it is very important for both doctors and patients to exclude and determine whether there is metastasis outside the lungs before treatment.

Clinically, we often encounter such cases: chest X-rays and chest CT scans of patients reveal solitary nodular shadows in the lungs, and a bronchoscopic biopsy confirms lung cancer. The thoracic surgeon immediately "successfully" performs a lung resection on the patient. Patients who think they have a good prognosis are found to have multiple metastases outside the lungs, such as metastases to the brain, liver, bones, etc., a short time later. In fact, these patients already had extrapulmonary metastases before surgery, but they were not discovered because of lack of routine examinations. If abdominal ultrasound, brain MRI, whole-body bone scans and other examinations are performed before surgery, extrapulmonary metastases can be detected early, allowing patients to avoid thoracotomy and choose other treatments.

02. Commonly used staging methods for lung cancer

The most commonly used clinical staging method for lung cancer is the internationally accepted TNM staging system.

In recent years, the clinical application of some new lung cancer staging methods, such as positron emission computed tomography (pET and pET-CT), and endoscopic ultrasound-guided esophageal fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) and bronchoscopic biopsy (EBUS-TBNA), has made the clinical staging of mediastinal lymph nodes before lung cancer treatment more accurate. In particular, positron emission computed tomography (pET and pET-CT) examinations are expected to be included in the medical insurance reimbursement catalog as soon as possible!

03. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy is required before lung cancer surgery

Lung cancer is divided into central lung cancer and peripheral lung cancer. The T stage of central lung cancer determines the scope of surgical resection. In addition to clarifying the pathological type of lung cancer through biopsy, preoperative fiberoptic bronchoscopy can also clearly observe the invasion range of the tumor, which helps to determine the surgical method. It is especially important for central lung cancer at the bronchial opening. Even peripheral lung cancer can be diagnosed cytologically through effective bronchoscopic rinsing and bronchoscopic lavage fluid examination, and pathological diagnosis can also be obtained through transbronchial puncture biopsy.

At present, the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association has included fiberoptic bronchoscopy as a routine preoperative examination item for lung cancer.

04. Some lung cancer patients need to undergo video-mediated stenoscopy before surgery

05. What preparations should be made before lung cancer surgery?

Preoperative preparation for lung cancer surgery includes oncological preparation and surgical preparation. Once the lung cancer patient is diagnosed and staging examinations to be eligible for surgical indications, the attending physician will develop a series of preoperative clinical examinations related to lung resection.

We will inquire about the patient's medical history and overall health status in detail, complete the examination of important organ functions, and find out whether there is a history of drug allergies and previous surgical history. The focus of surgery is on lung function and heart function examination. Pulmonary function test is used to confirm whether the remaining lung can compensate. Blood gas analysis is used to determine the excretion function of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. Electrocardiogram and cardiac ultrasound examination are used to confirm whether the heart can withstand thoracotomy and lung resection.

Medical staff will also teach patients how to exercise lung function and cough effectively.

Lung cancer patients must quit smoking before surgery, as smoking has an adverse effect on lung surgery. Smoking can irritate the respiratory tract, weaken the ability of cilia in the trachea to clear mucus, lead to sputum accumulation, and affect postoperative sputum discharge; thoracotomy itself is a kind of damage to healthy lung tissue. The remaining lung after lung resection is prone to atelectasis, and the chance of lung infection is significantly increased. Medical staff will warn smokers to stop smoking immediately and quit smoking for at least 2-3 weeks before surgery.

An enema or laxatives should be taken the day before the operation. Eating and drinking should be prohibited after 10 pm before the operation. Hypnotic drugs should be taken as usual. All jewelry, contact lenses, dentures and wigs should be removed before entering the operating room.

For elderly patients with other diseases, it is very important to actively treat the comorbidities before surgery.

Commonly used pulmonary function tests in clinical practice include vital capacity (VC), maximum ventilation volume (MVV), and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). Forced expiratory volume in one second is the percentage of forced vital capacity (FEV1%). It is generally believed that when VC accounts for the percentage of predicted value (VC%) ≤ 50%, MVV accounts for the percentage of predicted value (MVV%) ≤ 50%, FEV1 or FEV1% & 50%, the risk of thoracotomy is very high. It is generally believed that there is no contraindication to surgery for MVV% ≥ 70%, and those with 69% to 50% should be carefully considered; those with 49% to 30% should be as conservative as possible or avoid surgery, and those below 30% are contraindicated for surgery.

06. Common treatments for lung cancer

Common treatments for lung cancer include:

Local treatment methods: including surgery, radiotherapy and other physical treatment methods, including radiofrequency ablation, gamma knife, X-knife, argon-helium knife, photodynamic therapy, cryotherapy and hyperthermia. It also includes local administration of drugs into the chest cavity.

Systemic treatment methods: Chemotherapy Molecular targeted therapy Immunotherapy Traditional Chinese medicine treatment

In recent years, the "talk therapy" emphasized, namely the important role of psychological therapy in the comprehensive treatment of lung cancer. Various treatment methods should be organically combined, and lung cancer emphasizes multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment.

07. Commonly used surgical methods:

With the development of medical science, modern anesthesiology, surgical instruments and minimally invasive thoracic surgery, the status and value of lung surgery in the comprehensive treatment of lung cancer have been increasingly valued. Lung cancer surgery has developed with the development of video-assisted thoracoscopy and minimally invasive thoracic surgery. Video-assisted thoracoscopy and minimally invasive surgery such as wedge resection, lobectomy and pleural biopsy of unexplained pleural effusion have been widely performed throughout the country.

It can be said with certainty that patients with stage I, stage II, and some highly selected stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer can benefit from surgery.

Commonly used surgical methods for lung cancer: Lobectomy + mediastinal lymph node dissection is currently the most commonly used surgical procedure for lung cancer resection. It accounts for about 70% of lung resection surgeries for lung cancer. Bronchial sleeve shaping lobectomy is mainly for a special group of patients with central lung cancer. Bronchoscopy indicates that the tumor is located in or invades the opening of the lobar bronchus. It has become routine to send the bronchial stump for frozen pathological examination during surgery. Pneumonectomy has gradually decreased in recent years, especially for elderly patients with lung cancer. Local resection: includes segmental resection and wedge resection. In recent years, video-assisted thoracoscopic local lung resection has brought survival benefits to elderly patients with early lung cancer.

Lung resection plus systematic intrathoracic lymph node dissection is the standard surgical procedure for non-small cell lung cancer. In recent years, video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy + systematic intrathoracic lymph node dissection has made rapid progress in major cities, and the debate on health economics caused by its growing medical expenses continues. I hope that the medical insurance department will pay attention to it and give policy support!

In addition, the small incision thoracotomy without damaging the chest wall muscles can bring high-quality life and low medical expenses to more lung cancer patients in small and medium-sized cities. It is worth promoting.

08. Routine dissection of mediastinal lymph nodes is required in lung cancer surgery

We emphasize the importance of clinical staging before lung cancer treatment. In fact, the most important thing is the role of surgery in the staging of non-small cell lung cancer. Systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection not only removes the metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes, but more importantly, it obtains accurate pathological staging, which lays an important foundation for the formulation of a scientific and reasonable comprehensive treatment plan after surgery.

If systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection is not performed during lung cancer surgery, stage IIIa lung cancer may be misclassified as stage I or II, that is, local advanced non-small cell lung cancer may be treated as early lung cancer, and the opportunity for long-term survival through postoperative adjuvant therapy may even be missed.

Systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection plays a very important role in the staging of non-small cell lung cancer. As an important step in radical surgery for lung cancer, systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection has become the gold standard for radical surgery for non-small cell lung cancer in many countries.

09. The important role of video-assisted thoracoscopy in lung cancer surgery

Traditional thoracotomy is highly traumatic and has a slow recovery after surgery. It is also very risky for elderly patients with lung cancer over 70 years old and has a high incidence of postoperative complications.

The unique advantages of video-assisted thoracoscopy have changed the concept and surgical process of thoracic surgery. With only 2-3 3-4 cm holes, thoracic surgeons use laparoscopes and instruments to complete the same lobectomy and systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection as traditional thoracotomy. Patients can be discharged from the hospital 5-7 days after the operation and can receive postoperative adjuvant treatment as planned.

For patients with unexplained pleural effusion, video-assisted thoracoscopy can help obtain sufficient pleural and lung tissue for a clear diagnosis, and can also ensure a good quality of life for patients through pleurodesis.

For patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and malignant pleural effusion, in addition to completing the above two tasks, video-assisted thoracoscopy can also guide molecular targeted therapy by completing EGFR receptor detection through sufficient specimens.

In recent years, routine video-assisted thoracoscopy before thoracotomy has also avoided the pain of late-stage lung cancer that is not surgically resectable and cannot be removed by thoracotomy.

10. Benefits of intercostal nerve cryoanalgesia in lung cancer surgery

Lung cancer patients often have a history of long-term heavy smoking and have symptoms of coughing and expectoration before surgery. In addition, the surgery itself damages the lungs, and the amount of sputum increases significantly after surgery, requiring patients to cough forcefully and effectively to expel the sputum from the lungs. However, since patients often have pain in the incision after surgery and are afraid of coughing, the sputum cannot be expelled in time, leading to complications such as respiratory obstruction, lung infection, and atelectasis.

In the past, lung resection surgeries all used a posterolateral chest incision similar to the English letter "S" and about 30 centimeters long. It required cutting off the serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, trapezius and other chest wall muscles. The surgery was traumatic, with severe incision pain after the surgery, and a high chance of complications such as lung infection and atelectasis.

Pain after thoracotomy is mainly caused by damage and stimulation of the intercostal nerves during the operation. For this reason, we routinely free the intercostal nerves near the incision before closing the chest after completing lung resection and freeze them to temporarily paralyze the intercostal nerves. After the operation, the patient only feels numbness at the incision site and no longer feels pain. The patient's effective coughing can expel sputum in time, promote the expansion of the remaining lung tissue, significantly speed up recovery after surgery, and reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications.

The paralyzed intercostal nerves gradually recovered their function 3 to 6 months after the operation, and the movement and sensation on the operated side returned to normal, improving the patient's quality of life.

11. Lung cancer treatment cannot rely on "one knife" alone!

Lung cancer can metastasize to distant sites when the primary tumor is very small, and local recurrence and distant metastasis often occur after surgical resection of early lung cancer. In recent years, the concept that lung cancer is a systemic disease has been accepted by medical workers around the world.

Even after surgery for early-stage lung cancer, 20-30% of patients will experience recurrence or metastasis, while the recurrence and metastasis rate for mid- to late-stage lung cancer is as high as 50-80%. Therefore, lung cancer treatment cannot only focus on local tumors, but must always remember that lung cancer is a systemic disease that requires multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment.

The president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) emphasized that "almost all malignant tumors require multidisciplinary treatment" and proposed that physicians from oncology, thoracic surgery, radiation oncology, pathology, and respiratory medicine departments need to work together to diagnose lung cancer patients and develop scientific and reasonable treatment plans.

In addition to surgery, lung cancer treatment also includes radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, a variety of treatment methods have been widely used in clinical practice, including gamma knife, argon-helium knife, radiofrequency ablation, cryotherapy, thermotherapy, and photodynamic therapy.

Doctors can apply existing treatment methods comprehensively, scientifically and rationally according to the patient's specific condition, in order to achieve the goal of curing the disease or prolonging the patient's survival and improving the quality of life.

At present, the comprehensive treatment mode of lung cancer includes: surgery + chemotherapy, surgery + targeted therapy, chemotherapy + targeted therapy, radiofrequency ablation + chemotherapy, radiofrequency ablation + targeted therapy, chemotherapy + radiotherapy + targeted therapy, etc. In short, the treatment of lung cancer must emphasize multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment. In addition to paying attention to prolonging the survival of lung cancer patients, we must also pay attention to the quality of life of patients and give lung cancer patients more clinical benefits.

In recent years, with the development and application of a new generation of chemotherapy drugs and molecular target therapeutic drugs and the development of multidisciplinary treatment models, the efficacy of lung cancer has improved, and the overall five-year survival rate has increased to 15%, a small improvement compared to 8% in the 1980s.

12. Lung cancer patients need adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery

The concept that lung cancer is a systemic disease has been accepted by everyone, and the treatment model for lung cancer has changed to multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine. 4-6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy after lung cancer surgery has been carried out in many lung cancer centers across the country. So, do all lung cancer patients need chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy after surgical resection?

The answer is no.

If the diameter of the lung cancer lesion is less than 3 cm, and there is no external invasion, no hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis, we call it "early lung cancer", and the medical term is "stage Ia" lung cancer. Clinical trials have shown that chemotherapy after surgery for patients with stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer not only does not prolong life, but shortens survival due to the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. Therefore, patients with stage Ia lung cancer do not need adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery.

In addition, adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery for elderly lung cancer patients over the age of 75 also cannot improve the survival rate. This is because the functions of elderly patients in various aspects of their bodies have declined to varying degrees, and it is not easy for them to recover from the bone marrow suppression and gastrointestinal reactions caused by chemotherapy.

13. How many cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy are appropriate for postoperative non-small cell lung cancer?

Lung cancer emphasizes comprehensive treatment. Surgery alone is not effective and requires postoperative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. How many cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery are appropriate?

Existing clinical trials have confirmed that 4-6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery are appropriate.

After complete resection of stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer, no further chemotherapy or radiotherapy is required, only regular observation and follow-up are required.

There is still controversy in the academic community about postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for stage Ib non-small cell lung cancer. If the diameter of the lung tumor is less than 4 cm, current evidence has failed to show that postoperative chemotherapy can improve long-term survival. However, if the diameter of the lung tumor is greater than 4 cm, 4 cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy are recommended.

In addition, if you are participating in a clinical research project, 4 cycles of chemotherapy are also recommended as postoperative adjuvant treatment for stage Ib non-small cell lung cancer.

Six cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy are appropriate for stage II non-small cell lung cancer.

For IIIa non-small cell lung cancer, 6 cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy are generally considered appropriate. Some patients with poor tumor differentiation and high lymph node metastasis rate need maintenance treatment. That is to say, after 6 cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, effective chemotherapy drugs are selected for single-agent chemotherapy, which is repeated every 3 to 4 weeks.

14. Lung cancer patients should have regular follow-up examinations after surgery

The recurrence and metastasis rates of lung cancer patients after surgery are high, and some patients will suffer from lung cancer again, which is a basic characteristic of malignant tumors. Therefore, we require lung cancer patients to undergo regular examinations and follow-up after surgery.

Generally speaking, in the first year after surgery, the patient should be re-examined every three months; in the second year, every six months; and then every year thereafter for life. In the first year after surgery, chest CT scans are not performed at every checkup, but mainly to check items related to the surgery. But one thing should be emphasized: a chest CT scan should be performed at least once a year after surgery, which helps to detect the metastasis of tiny lesions in the lungs. Once a problem is found, it should be treated in time. Especially for patients who have undergone surgery for stage III non-small cell lung cancer, regular checkups are required.

Currently, fewer and fewer patients have local recurrence after radical surgery for lung cancer, and more patients have distant metastases, such as bone metastases, brain metastases, and abdominal organ metastases. If bone metastases occur, the treatment methods for bone metastases should be followed to prevent and treat bone-related events, such as pathological fractures and bone pain, and systemic chemotherapy or second-line treatment should be performed.

Another benefit of regular follow-up examinations is that patients can get the latest developments in lung cancer treatment from their doctors in a timely manner and receive new technologies and new drugs as soon as possible.

Regular follow-up examinations should continue for at least 5 years.

15. Radiofrequency ablation for lung cancer

Radiofrequency ablation for lung cancer treatment is a new minimally invasive physical targeted treatment technology for lung cancer that has emerged in recent years.

Radiofrequency ablation technology uses ablation electrodes to perform percutaneous lung puncture under the guidance of ultrasound or CT, or places radiofrequency electrodes into solid tumor tissue during surgery. Nine anchor-shaped thin electrode wires extend from the front end of the ablation electrode needle and are inserted into the tumor tissue. Through radiofrequency output, the ions of the tissue cells in the lesion area vibrate and frictionally generate heat, and the local temperature reaches above 90°C. The heated temperature kills the tumor tissue, causing coagulative necrosis of the lesion tissue, eventually forming liquefied foci or fibrotic tissue. At the same time, the temperature is adjusted and monitored in real time to achieve the purpose of local elimination of tumor tissue. Finally, the puncture needle tract is heated and ablated to prevent tumor implantation.

Indications for radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of lung cancer are:

1. Patients with primary or metastatic lung cancer who have surgical indications but refuse surgery; or patients with early-stage lung cancer and elderly lung cancer who cannot tolerate surgery;

2. Remedial treatment measures for open-chest surgical exploration of lung cancer.

3. Tumor reduction treatment for patients with locally advanced cancer and lung metastasis provides conditions for comprehensive treatment.

There are several ways to implement radiofrequency ablation for lung cancer, including thoracotomy, thoracoscopy, and CT-guided puncture. In some cases where the tumor cannot be removed during thoracotomy, radiofrequency ablation of the tumor can be performed during surgery as a remedial measure. In addition, radiofrequency ablation can also be performed by inserting a radiofrequency needle through chest wall puncture under thoracoscopy. The most accurate and minimally invasive method is radiofrequency ablation under local anesthesia puncture under CT guidance. The radiofrequency needle is inserted when the lung is inflated, and a CT computer scan is performed after the radiofrequency electrode is opened to accurately observe the distribution and position of the electrode in the tumor. After adjusting to the optimal state, ablation treatment can be performed to maximize the effect of radiofrequency ablation treatment.

Radiofrequency ablation, as one of the local physical targeted treatment methods, should be combined with molecular targeted drugs, chemotherapy drugs, radiotherapy and other treatment methods for comprehensive treatment.

16. CT-guided radiofrequency ablation is effective in treating early-stage lung cancer in the elderly!

Although surgical treatment for lung cancer has become minimally invasive, some lung cancer patients are unable or unwilling to undergo surgical removal of the tumor due to physical reasons or other non-medical factors. Some elderly lung cancer patients cannot tolerate general anesthesia.

The emergence of tumor radiofrequency ablation technology has brought hope of clinical cure of lung cancer to these patients.

In June 2008, the top international medical journal Lancet Oncology published online the results of a prospective multicenter clinical study on percutaneous lung puncture radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of lung cancer. 99% of patients were able to complete the operation smoothly, and there was no treatment-related death. The 1-year and 2-year survival rates of non-small cell lung cancer after radiofrequency ablation were 92% and 73%, respectively, of which the 2-year survival rate of stage I non-small cell lung cancer was as high as 92%. In addition, radiofrequency ablation has also achieved very good results for lung metastasis: the 1-year and 2-year survival rates of colorectal cancer lung metastasis were 91% and 68%, respectively; the 1-year and 2-year survival rates of lung metastasis of other malignant tumors were 93% and 67%, respectively.

Radiofrequency ablation technology has opened a new window for the treatment of lung cancer. It is suitable for patients with early lung cancer or lung metastasis who cannot tolerate surgical operation. It can also be used as a remedial treatment measure for open-chest surgical exploration of lung cancer and as a tumor-reducing treatment for patients with locally advanced cancer and lung metastasis, providing conditions for comprehensive treatment.

Through CT-guided three-dimensional reconstruction, the radiofrequency ablation electrodes can be evenly distributed in the lung tumor, completing the radiofrequency ablation treatment to the maximum extent. This is an unmatched advantage over open-chest surgery or thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation treatment, and is also the preferred radiofrequency ablation treatment method in the field of thoracic surgery and lung cancer treatment worldwide. It can both ablate the tumor to the maximum extent and achieve the purpose of minimally invasive treatment to the maximum extent.

17. Lung cancer requires comprehensive treatment

Lung cancer is divided into early, middle and late stages. Simply put, lung cancer with a diameter of less than 3 cm, no external invasion, and no hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis is called "early lung cancer";

Once the pleura is invaded or hilar lymph node metastasis occurs, we define it as "early and middle stage lung cancer";

If the lung tumor metastasizes to the mediastinal lymph nodes, or the tumor invades structures such as the chest wall, diaphragm, pericardium, and mediastinum, we call it "locally advanced lung cancer"

If a lung cancer patient has extrapulmonary metastasis, such as brain metastasis, bone metastasis, or abdominal organ metastasis, it is considered "advanced lung cancer."

Once a lung cancer patient has lymph node metastasis, it means that the cancer cells have entered the lymphatic circulatory system and are very likely to spread throughout the body through the blood circulatory system. Therefore, the treatment of lung cancer cannot be limited to "one knife".

In addition to surgical operations, lung cancer treatment also includes radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, a variety of treatment methods have been widely used in clinical practice, including gamma knife, argon-helium knife, radiofrequency ablation, cryotherapy, thermotherapy, photodynamic therapy, etc. Doctors can use existing treatment methods in a comprehensive, scientific and reasonable manner according to the patient's specific condition, in order to achieve the goal of radical cure or prolong the patient's survival and improve the quality of life.

International data and Chinese data show that even surgically treated early-stage lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of less than 90%. The local recurrence and distant metastasis rates of mid- to late-stage lung cancer are even more unsatisfactory!