How many surgeries are needed to remove lung cancer? my mother-in-law is in her 70s, and has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. how many operations will she require, and how far apart will they be?

The : The treatment of lung cancer depends on the type of lung cancer (small cell lung cancer vs non-small cell lung cancer) and the stage of the cancer (i, ii, iii and iv). Stages iii and IV is what we consider as "advanced lung cancer" and this is not treated with surgery in general. Depending on the type of cancer, the stage and the condition of the patient, we usually treat these advanced cancers with chemotherapy alone or in combination with radiation. However, there are some cases of stage iii cancers in which after treating with radiation and chemotherapy we are actually able to take them out with surgery. Talk to your medical oncologist and ask him or her what type of lung cancer your mother-in-law has and what stage of cancer it is. These two pieces of information will be very useful for you and your family in your search for more information. The national cancer institute has excellent information for patients in its website: http://www.Cancer.Gov/cancertopics/types/lung best regards, ariel.

Depends: It depends on what you mean by advanced. If she is a candidate for surgery she may require a procedure to biopsy lymph nodes and then a procedure to remove the lung cancer itself. The timing of these two procedure is dependent on the findings from the lymph nodes. And the surgeons personal practice. If there is cancer in lymph nodes she may need other chemo +/- radiation before the lung surgery.