Interventional Radiology Treatments for Lung Cancer

Minimally Invasive Treatments Help Cancer Patients Extend life and Improve Quality of Life

Procedures performed by interventional radiologists are being increasingly used in the care of patients with cancer. These specially trained physicians use X-rays, ultrasound or other imaging techniques to guide small tubes called catheters and miniature tools directly to the site of the disease. Interventional radiology procedures for patients with cancer include new approaches for treatment, relieving pain and diagnosing cancer without surgical biopsy.

Lung Cancer

Normally, cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old, they die and new cells take their place. Sometimes this orderly process goes awry--that is, new cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass of tissue, or tumor. Cancerous tumors are abnormal and divide without control or order.

As vascular experts, interventional radiologists are uniquely skilled in using the vascular system to deliver targeted cancer treatments via catheter throughout the body.

The lung is the most common site for primary cancer worldwide, and smoking tobacco is the leading risk factor. The lung is also a common site of metastases for various malignancies. Metastases occur when a single tumor cell or clump of cells gain access to the blood stream or lymphatic system, travel to a new organ such as the lung, begin to multiply, and then regrow their vascular structure to obtain food.

Interventional radiologists can deliver treatments for lung cancer directly to the cancer without significant side effects or damage to nearby normal tissue. There are two main methods by which interventional radiologists can treat cancer. The first is to use the vascular system to deliver chemotherapy medicine directly to the cancer's vascular supply. This limits damage and toxicity to the rest of the body while delivering the highest dose of the chemotherapy to the cancer. The second method interventional radiologists use to treat cancer is to "cook" or "freeze" the cancer by sticking a small, energy-delivering needle directly into the cancer that heats or freezes the cancer without significant damage to nearby normal tissue. Since these techniques are delivered at the cancer specifically, patients have fewer overall side effects making this especially useful in patients with other significant medical problems. According to the National Cancer Institute, "targeted cancer therapies will give doctors a better way to tailor cancer treatment."

Prevalence

* Approximately 173,770 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2004, accounting for 13 percent of all new cancer cases.

* An estimated 160,440 Americans will die in 2004 from lung cancer, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths.

* 85-95 percent of lung cancers are smoking related

* More Americans die each year from lung cancer than from breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined.

* Lung cancer kills more men than prostate cancer and more women than breast cancer

* Between 1960 and 1990, deaths from lung cancer among women increased by more than 400 percent.

* African American men are at least 40 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than white males.

Symptoms

* Coughing that doesn't go away

* Persistent chest pain

* Shortness of breath, wheezing

* Coughing up blood

* Hoarseness

* Swelling of the face and neck

* Loss of appetite and weight

* Fatigue