There are many options for treating people with lung cancers. You may feel overwhelmed as you explore them.
This guide will help you better understand your options and get ready to talk with your care team. You’ll have the information you need to make the best decisions for your care together.
Your care team includes doctors, nurses, and other experts in cancer that starts in the chest. Our lung cancer experts will make a treatment plan just for you.
Your personal lung cancer treatment plan will target the type and stage of lung cancer you have. It will be based on the latest research and therapies. During your treatment, you may have a few therapies for the best results.
Your MSK care team will talk with you about the best therapies for you. You may have one treatment, or a few treatments together. Lung cancer treatments can include:
Many people with lung cancer, or possible lung cancer in a nodule, have surgery to remove the tumor or nodule. The type of surgery depends on the type of lung cancer you have and its stage.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. We use radiation therapy to treat people for many types of lung cancer.
Chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy are called systemic therapies. Treatments are given by mouth, intravenous (IV) infusion, or injection (shot). They spread throughout the body to treat cancer.
Interventional radiology uses precise image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat cancer and relieve symptoms. These treatments are minimally invasive and often have faster recovery times.
We care for every person with kindness, warmth, and respect.
Your care team includes doctors, nurses, and other experts who focus on lung cancers. They work together using the latest science and research to create your care plan. It will focus on what matters most to you, and the treatment that’s best for your type of lung cancer.
To learn which genes are helping a tumor or a possible tumor nodule (NAH-jool) grow, we may do genetic testing on them. A nodule is a growth or lump that may be cancer or benign (not cancer).
The genetic information from the tests tells us if a treatment aimed at a gene is right for you.
At MSK, we take care of the person, not just the cancer. We offer support and resources to help you during and after lung cancer treatment.
Your care plan may include nutrition advice, physical therapy, exercise, and mental health support. Our rehabilitation experts help you manage the side effects of lung cancer and its treatments.
Many people with cancer prefer to get treatment closer to home. MSK provides excellent cancer care on Long Island and in locations in Westchester County, New Jersey, and New York City. You can meet with your surgeon and have chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and genetic testing.
MSK’s lung cancer experts will work with you to choose a treatment that’s best for you.
Your care team may offer you a few treatment options. They’re based on your symptoms and other health issues, the lung cancer type and stage, and predictive markers on the tumor. We assess all these things and then find the best treatment choice for you.
For some people with lung cancer, surgery is the best option. Your surgeon will talk with you about your options and help you to get ready.
They’ll explain what kind of surgery may be best for you, based on the:
Surgery may not be right for you because of your general health or the location of the tumor or nodule. Instead, we may recommend radiation therapy.
For early-stage cancer, you’ll have radiation alone.
For advanced-stage cancer, radiation is best given along with chemotherapy.
At MSK, all members of your care team will review your case. They’ll talk with you about which treatments are best for you.
Thoracic surgeon Dr. Manjit S. Bains (right) in an operating room during surgery.
The goal of surgery for lung cancer is to remove all of the tumor or nodule. We remove the part of the lung that has cancer and the nearby lymph nodes (also called lymph glands).
Your MSK surgeon’s top priority is your safety. We also make sure you have a good quality of life after surgery.
The type of procedure you have depends on the tumor’s size and where it has spread to within your lungs.
Lungs are made up of lobes. Your left lung has 2 lobes, and your right lung has 3 lobes.
MSK thoracic surgeons do more than 2,500 operations and 6,000 procedures each year. They’re national and world leaders in treating rare tumors and complex cancer cases. We’re experts in high-risk lung surgeries and tumors or nodules that are hard to remove.
Radiation therapy for lung cancer uses very precise high-energy beams called X-rays to kill cancer cells.
Radiation oncologists are cancer doctors with special training in using radiation to treat cancer. Their goal is to deliver radiation just to the lung tumor while keeping nearby healthy tissue safe.
Radiation therapy aims to control or kill off lung cancer cells with as few side effects as possible.
We use radiation therapy:
MSK’s radiation experts do everything possible to limit healthy tissue’s exposure to radiation. They use the most precise methods to deliver powerful doses of radiation right to the tumor.
Sometimes we can use methods that lower the number of treatments you’ll need. This can raise the chances of controlling and curing the cancer.
At MSK, we use stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) called MSK Precise®. It lowers the number of treatments you’ll need. MSK Precise lets you get back to your daily life faster because of the shorter treatment schedule. It can control 9 out of every 10 lung tumors, with fewer side effects.
Systemic therapies are drugs that travel through the body to kill cancer cells. These therapies for lung cancer largely include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy.
You may have neoadjuvant (NEE-oh-A-joo-vant) therapy. This is treatment you get before lung cancer surgery. Neoadjuvant therapy shrinks tumors so they’re easier to remove during surgery.
You may have adjuvant (A-joo-vunt) therapy, which is treatment you get after lung cancer surgery or radiation therapy. It’s used to kill any cancer cells that may be left in your lung or the rest of your body. Adjuvant therapy can lower the risk of lung cancer coming back or spreading.
Here are some systemic therapies for lung cancer:
Chemotherapy (chemo) is a treatment that uses medicine to stop or slow cancer cells from growing. Chemo puts medicines that target cancer cells into your vein. Most chemo medicines for lung cancer can go through a standard intravenous (IV) drip. The medicines travel in your bloodstream to kill cancer cells in the body.
There are a few kinds of chemo medicines for lung cancer. Your care team will talk with you about the best options.
Targeted therapies are cancer treatments that target a tumor’s gene changes (mutations or variants). It’s a personal treatment plan just for the type of cancer you have. These medicines often are given by mouth in pill form, or through an IV into your vein.
Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that boosts your immune system’s natural ability to fight cancer. Your immune system will then attack cancer cells, much the same way it attacks bacteria or viruses.
Most other cancer treatments use drugs or radiation to target cancer cells directly.
This medicine most often is given through an IV into your vein.
We will test to see if there is a protein called PD-L1 on a lung cancer cell. This test can help tell us if immunotherapy drugs may be the right treatment for you.
A tumor genetic profiling test also is called genomic testing, molecular profiling, or next-generation sequencing. The test uses a sample taken from a tumor. We also consider sending blood samples to learn more about the tumor’s genes.
At MSK, broad genetic testing of the tumor is a routine part of how we diagnose non-small cell lung cancer. We’re one of only a few cancer centers in the world to profile lung tumors as part of standard care.
Genomic testing tells us which genetic changes (mutations or variants) caused the lung cancer and made the cancer grow. The test results let us target those genes for treatment, a method called targeted therapy.
If we know which mutations you have, we know which treatments will work best on the tumor. Targeted therapies often are the best lung cancer treatment option, and work well for people with non-small cell lung cancer.
We test for changes in more than 500 genes. But the most common genetic changes in lung cancer are in the genes EGFR, KRAS, and ALK.
An interventional (IN-ter-VEN-shun-al) radiologist is a doctor who uses imaging scans to help guide procedures. Examples of imaging tests are:
Interventional radiology (IR) treatments are minimally invasive. That means they’re done through a small incision (cut) in your skin.
Treatments often are done in 1 day as an outpatient (outside the hospital) procedure. Most people go home with just a small needle mark. A few days after treatment, you can start your normal activities. Your treatment will allow your lung to keep working well.
The goal of treatment may be to:
IR procedures include biopsies to help diagnose and stage cancer. Ablation is a procedure that uses special needles to apply heat or cold to the lung tumor.
We offer 2 types of percutaneous (per-kyoo-TAY-nee-us) lung ablation. Both procedures are thermal ablations. Thermal means it’s related to temperature, either very hot or very cold.
Ablation procedures kill cancer cells in different ways. Your interventional radiologist will choose a method based on the size, location, and shape of the tumor.
Cryoblation (also called cryotherapy or cryosurgery) kills cancer cells by freezing and thawing them many times.
Cryoablation also works very well to treat nerve pain caused by tumors in the ribs or chest wall. Freezing nerves can give a lot of pain relief without high doses of narcotics and pain medicine.
Microwave ablation uses microwave energy that comes from a special needle that creates high heat. These high temperatures kill cancer cells.
You’ll get anesthesia (medicine to make you sleep) before your lung cancer ablation. The procedure often takes about 2 to 3 hours.
Ablation therapy also can be used to treat some lung cancer lesions that have spread outside the chest.
Lung cancer can metastasize (spread) outside the chest. It often spreads to the liver. Liver metastases are tumors that spread to the liver from another part of the body.
MSK interventional radiologists are leading experts in treating metastatic liver cancer with ablation and embolization (EM-boh-lih-ZAY-shun).
Embolization may be right for people who cannot have an ablation procedure. The liver tumors may be too large, or there are too many of them. They also could be in a hard spot for an ablation.
Embolization is a treatment for lung cancer that has spread to the liver. Your interventional radiologist will thread a small catheter (thin, flexible tube) into an artery. Then, they’ll inject tiny therapeutic particles that have radiation therapy into the catheter.
These particles will go right to the arteries that supply blood to the tumor. They will help shrink the tumor.
MSK offers genetic testing that looks for the most common mutations linked to lung cancer. MSK-IMPACT® is a testing tool only offered at MSK. It finds genetic changes and other tumor traits that other tests can miss. We routinely test for changes in more than 500 genes, including EGFR, KRAS, and ALK.
At MSK, we support you every step of the way.
When you learn you have lung cancer, you’ll probably have many questions. Talking about treatment options with your doctors can help you feel confident when making decisions about your care.
Your care team may talk with you about joining a lung cancer clinical trial.
Anyone can join a clinical trial from the very start of treatment, if there’s one that’s right for you.
MSK strongly encourages people from all races, genders, ages, and backgrounds to join clinical trials. It’s very important for research studies to include people from many backgrounds. It’s how our researchers can learn if a new treatment works for everyone, not just one group of people.
Clinical trials are research studies to test new treatments, procedures, or devices to see how well they work. Every cancer treatment given to a person was first tested in a clinical trial.
Clinical trials can help us learn about new lung cancer drugs, such as:
MSK has one of the country’s largest cancer clinical trials programs. At each MSK site, our research team screens and matches people to open clinical trials that best fit your treatment needs.
If you join a clinical trial, you may be able to try new drugs to treat your type of lung cancer. Our patients may get a new treatment at MSK years before it’s offered at most other places.
Researchers follow strict rules to make sure all clinical trials are safe. The MSK research team will answer your questions and help you get ready for the trial. We follow your progress and keep you safe every step of the way.
sometimes years before they’re available to everyone.
from your expert care team.
for treatments you get during a clinical trial.
Our experts are always finding new ways to treat lung cancer and manage side effects. Explore the latest lung cancer news from MSK.
Thoracic medical oncologist Dr. Mark Awad says new treatments for lung cancer include a growing number of targeted therapies and new forms of immunotherapy.
At MSK, your care is always a team effort. Our care teams combine the skill and experience of many kinds of lung cancer experts. They work together to give you the best cancer treatment.
Thoracic surgeon Dr. Alexis Chidi (second from right) with her surgery team.
Your care team has special training in how to diagnose and treat lung cancer. Their goal is to support you during and after treatment for lung cancer.
We take care of the person, not just the cancer. Our social workers are here to help you and your family with the emotional, social, and physical effects of cancer.
Your care team will include doctors, nurses, and healthcare providers who are experts in lung cancer. They include thoracic surgeons, medical oncologists (cancer doctors), radiation oncologists, and radiologists.
Your team meets with a panel of experts who review and talk about your diagnosis. They discuss new ideas and the latest research. This expert panel then works together to choose your treatment plan.
A thoracic (thor-A-sik) surgeon is a doctor with special training in surgery for the chest, lungs, airways, esophagus (swallowing tube), and thymus. They’re also known as a chest surgeon.
A thoracic medical oncologist is a cancer doctor who specializes in thoracic cancers. These are cancers that have to do with the chest, including lung, tracheal (windpipe), and thymic (thymus) cancers.
A radiation oncologist is a cancer doctor with special training in using radiation therapy (RT) to treat cancer with radiation.
A radiologist is a doctor with special training in using imaging to diagnose and treat diseases, such as lung cancer. Imaging includes X-rays, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
A pulmonary medicine expert is a doctor with special training in diagnosing and treating diseases of the respiratory system. This includes the lungs, airways, and breathing muscles.
An interventional pulmonologist (IN-ter-VEN-shun-al pull-muh-NAHL-uh-jist) is a doctor with special training in treating lung problems, such as blocked airways, cancer, and tumors.
A pathologist is a doctor who uses a microscope to make a diagnosis from cell and tissue samples. They analyze the samples to learn the cause and effects of a health condition.
A social worker is a healthcare provider with special training in helping people cope with problems in their lives. They support you emotionally by providing counseling and practical help.
Our Care Advisors will match you with the right lung cancer experts for you.
Cancer treatment affects your body and emotions. The experience is not the same for everyone. We will support you during your treatment.
But you’re also a person with a life beyond cancer. We want to help you get back to it. That’s why we have many programs and services to support you and your loved ones.
You can connect with other people going through cancer treatment in our virtual support groups, led by a social worker.
Or, you may need help with side effects of treatment. We have experts with special training in treating pain.
Your caregivers are a very important part of your care team. They need support, too. We have a Caregivers Clinic to help your loved ones cope with cancer.
Lung cancer and its treatment can cause side effects. There’s also a chance new tumors develop after treatment. Our Lung Cancer Survivorship Program offers special care for issues that come up after your treatment ends.
Follow-up exams are very important. Our Survivorship Program experts will monitor (watch) you for signs the lung cancer has recurred (come back).
Our Integrative Medicine Service offers complementary, natural, and holistic therapies. This includes acupuncture, meditation, massage therapy, yoga, and exercise.
You may want support to cope with side effects of treatment. These may include pain, fatigue (feeling very tired), nerve problems, nausea, insomnia, and stress.
Without using prescription drugs, integrative therapies can help improve and control side effects of cancer treatment.
Integrative medicine services are available in New York City, New Jersey, Westchester, and on Long Island. We also offer virtual classes and workshops.
Pain management is an important part of cancer care. MSK was the first cancer center in the country to have a service just for treating pain in people with cancer.
Our pain experts will help relieve or manage pain after surgery. They can help while you’re still in the hospital, and after you’re home.
We have experts who manage the symptoms and side effects of cancer treatment, such as nausea during chemotherapy.
We offer counseling and support to help you manage anxiety, depression, anger, or loneliness. There are individual and group counseling sessions, both in person and through telemedicine visits. Counseling is open to you and your family, separately or together.
We also run support groups and programs if you want to talk with other people going through a similar experience. Our social workers can offer information on how to talk about your diagnosis with family members, work colleagues, and friends.
Lung cancer treatment can affect your digestion (how your body breaks down the food you eat). It can change your taste, how you eat, and how hungry you are.
Our clinical dietitian nutritionists can help with:
MSK is a place where people of all genders and sexual orientations feel welcome and treated with respect. Our LGBTQI+ Cancer Care Program gives you the support you need during cancer care. It’s for LGBTQI+ people getting screened or treated at MSK, or in our survivorship program.
We believe cancer care needs to be as convenient as possible. We have lung cancer treatment locations in New York City, Westchester, on Long Island, and in New Jersey.
At our locations, you can meet with your care team and get your lung cancer treatment. You may be able to have chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or join a clinical trial.
MSK brings its expert care closer to you so you can get back home to what matters most.
We’ll guide you about where you can go for check-ups, procedures, or treatments, based on your diagnosis and treatments.
