In bronchial carcinoma, surgical therapy may be indicated depending on the histology (fine tissue findings) and spread of the tumor. This may involve various surgical procedures, including those performed that:
- Lobectomy* – removal of a lobe of the lung.
- Segmental resection – removal of a segment of the lung.
- Pneumonectomy – removal of a lobe of the lung.
* In patients with non-small cell bronchial carcinoma and lobectomy, significantly fewer tumor cells are disseminated to the vasculature when venous ligation is performed first followed by arterial ligation.
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC):
Stage-adapted therapy of non-small cell lung cancer.
Stage | Therapy | |
Stage I |
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Stage II |
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Stage III |
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Stage IV |
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More hints
- For metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), progression-free survival (PFS) has been shown to be prolonged by consolidative local ablative therapy (koLAT) of all tumor manifestations using (chemo)radiotherapy and/or surgery followed by maintenance therapy.
- Postoperative chemotherapy (adjuvant chemotherapy) may improve the prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer.
- The influence of the start of therapy with adjuvant chemotherapy has minimal impact on prognosis. According to one study, the phase between the 40th and 60th day after surgery is associated with the lowest long-term mortality (death rate)
Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)
- Compared with non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer grows very rapidly and metastasizes (forms daughter tumors) quickly. Therefore, surgery or radiation therapy alone (radiotherapy) without chemotherapy is not useful.
Further notes
- One study evaluated patients over 65 years of age with invasive adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma (diameter ≤ 2 cm) who had undergone limited resection (wedge resection or segmentectomy) or lobectomy.The result showed worse survival rates than lobectomy (surgical removal of a lobe of the lung) for invasive non-small cell lung cancer ≤ 2 cm; for adenocarcinoma, limited resection may be equivalent if performed as a segmentectomy (rather than a wedge resection).