How is small cell lung cancer generally treated?

Small cell lung cancer is caused by smoking, which can cause chest tightness, coughing, and in severe cases, coughing up blood. It is very serious when it turns into a lung infection. If this disease is not treated promptly and effectively, it will affect the patient's life and health. So, how is small cell lung cancer generally treated?

1. Chemotherapy

The treatment of small cell lung cancer is mainly chemotherapy, which can be combined or sequentially with radiotherapy. For less than 5% of early-stage patients who are limited to the lung parenchyma, surgical treatment is considered. Limited-stage small cell lung cancer is mainly treated with synchronous chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy and radiotherapy sequentially. Synchronous chemoradiotherapy is better than sequential treatment. Synchronous chemoradiotherapy should be performed as early as possible, and preventive whole-brain radiotherapy should be given. Preventive whole-brain radiotherapy has significant benefits for survival. Extensive-stage small cell lung cancer is mainly treated with chemotherapy, and local or metastatic lesions can be treated at an appropriate time.

2. Surgical treatment

Patients with TNM stage T1-2N0M0 confirmed by mediastinoscopy or surgical staging can undergo surgical resection. Even patients who achieve complete resection still need chemotherapy after surgery.

3. Drug treatment

Single-drug regimen: Before 1990, there were many studies on the efficacy of many single-drug drugs against small cell lung cancer, and in recent years, the effectiveness of some drugs has also been observed.

IV. Treatment with Chinese medicine

In clinical practice, Western medicine mainly treats small cell lung cancer with systemic chemotherapy, sometimes in combination with radiotherapy. However, while radiotherapy and chemotherapy kill malignant cancer cells, they also kill the body's normal cells. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can achieve good results in the short term, but they are only local treatments, and usually only treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. In addition, the toxic side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are more significant, often making patients miserable, and sometimes even accelerating the death rate of patients with small cell lung cancer.

The unique therapy of traditional Chinese medicine can be used throughout the entire process of small cell lung cancer treatment. A large amount of clinical data shows that traditional Chinese medicine can effectively prevent and treat the toxic side effects caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. If traditional Chinese medicine is used for treatment after surgery, it can effectively prevent the recurrence and metastasis of lung cancer, effectively prolong survival and improve the quality of life of patients.

The treatment level of small cell lung cancer has been at a plateau in the past 30 years, with only some progress made in synchronous chemoradiotherapy and whole-brain preventive radiotherapy. Currently, staging and standardized treatment of small cell lung cancer during initial treatment are still the key to achieving satisfactory therapeutic effects.