Brief description of radiotherapy modality of lung cancer

Conventional treatments for lung cancer include surgical treatment, radiotherapy, chemotherapy. In recent years, with the rapid development of molecular biology, targeted therapy is gradually becoming one of the main treatments for lung cancer, and in China, traditional Chinese medicine plays a unique role in the comprehensive treatment of lung cancer. The characteristics of various treatments are briefly described below.

Surgical treatment is to completely remove the primary tumor of lung through surgery and to sweep the local lymph nodes in order to try to achieve the purpose of curing the tumor, and the surgery is mainly suitable for the cases of stage I to stage IIIA.

Radiation therapy, commonly known as "baking electricity", uses various types of radiation (e.g., cobalt 60, electron beams emitted by medical linear gas pedals, X-rays and neutron beams, etc.) to kill tumor cells and achieve the purpose of treating tumors. Radiotherapy is divided into radical radiotherapy, palliative radiotherapy, preoperative radiotherapy, postoperative radiotherapy and intracavitary radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is an essential and important means for both early and advanced lung cancer patients. At present, radiotherapy has been greatly improved, and the precision radiotherapy technology represented by three-dimensional conformal and stereotactic radiotherapy such as gamma knife has been pushed to the clinic and become more and more mature, which can accurately locate the tumor and make the local irradiation dose of the tumor large, while the patient's normal tissues have little damage, and the therapeutic efficacy has been further improved.

Chemotherapy is the application of cytotoxic chemical drugs to treat tumors. According to the therapeutic purpose, chemotherapy can be divided into preoperative chemotherapy, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and palliative chemotherapy. With the continuous introduction of new drugs, chemotherapy occupies an important position in lung cancer treatment, and the toxic side effects of chemotherapy are generally within the control of doctors, and the majority of patients are able to tolerate chemotherapy.

Targeted therapy refers to the application of specific drugs to interfere with or block certain specific targets in the process of tumor development, such as cell receptors, signaling and angiogenesis, so as to achieve the purpose of tumor treatment. Targeted therapy is characterized by strong selectivity, precise curative effect and small toxic side effects. Commonly used targeted therapeutic drugs for lung cancer include gefitinib, bevacizumab, etc. The entry of molecular targeted therapy into the clinical field has made a big step forward in the individualized treatment of tumors.

In China, the treatment of lung cancer by Chinese medicine is characterized by low tumor remission rate but high clinical benefit rate, which means that Chinese medicine has advantages in relieving symptoms, improving quality of life and prolonging survival. Traditional Chinese medicine with modern treatment such as radiotherapy can play the role of reducing toxicity and increasing efficiency. TCM treatment is centered on dialectic therapy, and specific modalities include soups, proprietary Chinese medicines, Chinese medicine injections, and external TCM treatments.

At present, the development trend of tumor treatment has abandoned single treatment and entered the era of multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment. When choosing the treatment method, doctors should analyze the patient's systemic condition, the location, size, scope, pathological type, early or late stage of lung cancer, whether the cancer has metastatic spread and how to prevent and control the possible metastatic recurrence, etc., and even take into account the treatment willingness and economic conditions of the family members and the patients themselves. Even the family members and the patient's own treatment wishes and economic conditions should be taken into consideration to formulate the most appropriate comprehensive treatment plan.