Lung cancer is the commonest cause of death from cancer.
Treatment is therefore with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and palliative care. The purpose of chemotherapy is to prolong life and reduce suffering. However until recently, there was widespread pessimism about the use of chemotherapy, and many patients did not receive chemotherapy. This is changing for a number of reasons. Some of the new drugs have fewer side-effects, and can be given on an outpatient basis, some orally rather than by infusion.