Providing Advanced Cancer Care to our Community
Lung cancer forms in the tissues of your lung, most often in the cells that line the airway passages. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women and men.
If you have lung cancer, or if your provider suspects that you do, you need advanced care from a team of cancer experts. That’s what you can expect at St. Luke’s Center for Cancer Care. Our center is accredited by the Commission on Cancer for our care quality and patient outcomes. We follow the same treatment protocols as large academic medical centers, but we offer them in one convenient location, which lets our doctors collaborate more easily on your care. Our care teams take part in regularly meeting tumor boards, where we work together on patients’ treatment options to ensure we provide the best possible care. We take part in clinical trials to give patients access to treatment options not widely available. And we make sure your appointments are scheduled close together, so you spend less time waiting for your care and more time with your care team.
Types of Lung Cancer We Treat
There are two main types of lung cancer: small-cell lung cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer.
Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Non-small-cell lung cancer is the more common type. About 80% of lung cancer diagnoses are of small-cell lung cancer. There are three main subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer:
Adenocarcinoma: This kind of cancer starts in the cells that line the surface of the lungs and make mucus, called epithelial cells. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type of non-small-cell lung cancer.
Squamous cell carcinoma: This kind of cancer starts in the squamous cells, which are flat cells that line the inside of the airways of the lungs. They are often found near a main airway.
Large-cell carcinoma: This type of lung cancer can appear in any part of the lung and tends to grow and spread quickly.
Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Small-cell lung cancer is a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer. It grows faster than non-small-cell lung cancer, and it’s harder to treat. Small-cell lung cancer has often already spread to other parts of the body by the time it’s diagnosed. It’s usually caused by a history of smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products.
How We Diagnose Lung Cancer
If your doctor suspects you have lung cancer, you’ll likely need to undergo several of the following tests:
- Blood tests: Your doctor can’t diagnose cancer with blood tests alone, but they can help your doctor see how your organs are working.
- Imaging: Your doctor may order a chest X-ray or a chest CT scan to look for cancer in your lungs. They may also order a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to see if cancer has spread. Imaging tests will help your doctor decide the best course of treatment for you.
- Biopsy: During a biopsy, your doctor will collect cells to look at what kind of lung cancer you have. We can also collect tissue samples for genetic testing.
Genetic tests: We can test your lung tissue for gene mutations (changes) that medication can target as part of your treatment plan.
Your doctor will use the information they gather from your testing to help determine what stage of lung cancer you have. Staging lets you and your care team understand how large the cancer is and if it has spread to other parts of your body. There are some differences to how non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer are staged. Your care team can explain how they do this in your specific case. The general staging for lung cancer is:
- Stage 0 (in-situ): In this stage, the cancer is in the top lining of the lung or bronchus. It hasn’t spread to other parts of the lung or outside the lung.
- Stage 1: In this stage, the cancer hasn’t spread outside the lung.
- Stage 2: Cancer in this stage is larger than in Stage 1. There’s more than one tumor in the same lobe of the lung or it’s spread to lymph nodes inside the lung.
- Stage 3: Cancer in this stage is larger than in Stage 2. There’s more than one tumor in a different lobe of the same lung or it’s spread to nearby lymph nodes or structures.
- Stage 4: In this stage, cancer has spread to the other lung, the fluid around the lung or the fluid around the heart or other organs.
Our Lung Cancer Treatment Options
We treat non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancers differently. Your treatment will depend on the type of lung cancer you have, how far it’s spread and several other factors related to your individual health.
The main way we treat small cell lung cancer is with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
We treat non-small-cell lung cancer with surgery to remove the cancer if it’s not in large parts of the lungs and hasn’t spread to other parts of the body. We may also use radiofrequency ablation, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted drug therapy to treat non-small-cell lung cancer.
Symptoms and Risk Factors of Lung Cancer
Most lung cancer symptoms aren’t serious or obvious in the early stages. Symptoms can also look like other less serious illnesses. Symptoms include:
- A cough that won’t go away or gets worse
- Chest pain
- Coughing up blood
- Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
- Shoulder pain
- Swelling in the upper chest, neck, face or arms
- Unexplained fatigue (feeling tired)
- Voice hoarseness
- Wheezing
Because many people don’t experience symptoms during the early stages of lung cancer, it’s important to get screened for lung cancer, if you’re at higher risk. It’s also important to avoid smoking tobacco products. Researchers estimate 80% of lung cancer deaths are related to smoking. If you currently smoke, quit. Your risk of developing lung cancer decreases five years after quitting smoking. Your doctor can help you with smoking cessation.
Other risk factors for developing lung cancer include:
- Being exposed to secondhand smoke
- Being exposed to air pollution or other harmful substances
- A family history of lung cancer
- Previous exposure to radiation