Question 1

is radiation therapy for lung cancer painful?

Accepted Answer

No: Radiation itself is not painful but can have side effects such as tiredness, skin irritation, cough, shortness of breath and low blood counts.

Question 2

does radiation therapy for lung cancer improve survival rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes: Radiation is used in curing lung cancer.  Its used in varying combinations with surger and chemotherapy to find the best treatment for each stage and type of lung cancer.  It is not used in every case of lung cancer to accomplish the desired effect.  Stage one for example requires no radiation and would not help the survival if the patient has surgery with lobectomy.

Question 3

are there different types of radiation therapy for lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

Yes: High-energy x-rays are the most common.  Usually generated by the linear accelerator. It can be given over 6- 7 weeks daily for a curitive intent, 2-3 weeks for palliation, 3-5 fraction using radiosurgery linear accelator base or cyberknife radiosurgery for cure.  Other forms of radiation are protons, high dose rate brachytherapy. These are less often used.

Question 4

are there effective natural alternatives to radiation therapy for lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

No: There are no randomized studies that show that natural alternatives are as effective as radiation therapy for lung cancer.

Question 5

is it unusual for the radiation therapy for lung cancer to make someone lose his voice?

Accepted Answer

Yes: The vocal cords when treated directly could cause this so in lung cancer thats not likely. However the left vocal cord has a nerve that goes down in the chest then comes back up to the cord.  There may be cancer in the mediastinum that is compressing this nerve leading to the hoarseness.  Radiation by itself in the usual fractioned (6 week) course shouldn't.  With cyberknife it may happen.

Question 6

can radiation therapy cure lung cancer by itself?

Accepted Answer

Yes: Radiation needs to be in very high doses, which is called radiosurgery, or stereotactic body radiotherapy (sbrt). Cyberknife sbrt for primary lung cancer has been successful in treating early stage lung cancer.

Question 7

what kind of radiation therapy is best for lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

Standard Radiation: There is standard radiation, imrt, radiosurgery and proton beam.  Standard of care is still using regular ionizing radiation when normal tissue is protected.  In various situations you may need to use imrt or other techniques to protect normal tissue.  Standard radiation also works better with chemotherapy if the patient can tolerate it.  Radiosurgery if the patient can't have surgery.

Question 8

what can radiation therapy do for stage 3b lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

A lot: The updated long term results of rtog 9410 were published in 2011 in the journal of the national cancer institute.  This study examined different regimens of radiation and chemotherapy in patients with stage iii lung cancer.  They found that patients lived longer if they received chemotherapy and radiation at the same time as opposed to sequentially.

Question 9

how effective is radiation therapy for treating lung cancer?

Accepted Answer

Depends: Radiation is one method of treating lung cancer, and is effective if the lesion is small, and peripherally located. Once the lesion is treated, a scar will remain. This needs to be followed, since complete clearance can only be determined by surgical resection.

Question 10

why would someone with lung cancer only have one month of radiation therapy?

Accepted Answer

For Palliation: We treat cancer for cure or palliation (releive a symptom).  Its usually 2 to 2 and 1/2 weeks for pallliation and for cure its usually 5 to 7 weeks depending on type of lung cancer. So am not sure why only a month or 4 weeks unless the doctor was trying to do a better job in palliation or was just dragging it out for another reason.  I would definitely ask my doctor though knowing the info i gave.

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Doctor answers about:

Effects of radiation therapy for lung cancer

A member asked:

Is radiation therapy for lung cancer painful?

A member asked:

Does radiation therapy for lung cancer improve survival rates?

A member asked:

Are there different types of radiation therapy for lung cancer?

A member asked:

Are there effective natural alternatives to radiation therapy for lung cancer?

A member asked:

Is it unusual for the radiation therapy for lung cancer to make someone lose his voice?

A member asked:

Can radiation therapy cure lung cancer by itself?

A member asked:

What kind of radiation therapy is best for lung cancer?

A member asked:

What can radiation therapy do for stage 3b lung cancer?

A member asked:

How effective is radiation therapy for treating lung cancer?

A member asked:

Why would someone with lung cancer only have one month of radiation therapy?

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