It is painless. The majority of patients with obstructing lesions have resolution. Furthermore, the majority of patients with bleeding from lung cancer have cessation of that ominous symptom. The rationale for patients newly diagnosed with localized lung cancer is that external beam therapy bathes the tumor and surrounding lymph nodes in radiation. This has been the standard of care for cancers not surgically amenable.
Endobronchial implantation boosts the dose of radiation to the tumor.
Most physicians believe that a higher dose of radiation will lead to greater effectiveness of treatment. This is called dose-response. These include adenocarcinoma, squamous carcinoma and large cell carcinomas, as well as undifferentiated carcinomas. All respond in a similarly high proportion of instances. Most patients with newly diagnosed oat cell carcinoma receive chemotherapy.