Another 5 percent receive palliative resections. Radiation therapy is the local treatment of cancer using various types of radioactive x-ray beams. These treatments prolong life in some patients, and improve the quality of life while relieving pain in others. It rarely cures patients of lung cancer. The major role of radiation therapy is to relieve symptoms.
Chemotherapy is the use of medications and drugs which are known to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy is widely accepted as the primary treatment for small cell cancers. In early small cell cancers of the lung, there is a higher success rate with chemotherapy, especially if the cancer is only in the chest. In cases of non-small cell cancers of the lung, chemotherapy can be used alone or in combination with radiation therapy. Currently, the success in curing lung cancer is dismally low. Therefore, prevention of lung cancer is the best hope of limiting this terrible condition.