Once the studies have determined whether spread has occured to lymph nodes or other organs, the patient is typcially assigned to a clinical stage of disease. If the tumor has spread outside of the chest to an organ such as the liver or adrenal glands, then surgery is generally not performed, instead chmotherapy or radiation, or a combination is used. For most other patients, surgery is the primary treatment. In small-cell lung cancer, chemotherapy with or without radiation is the primary treatment. For patients with very specific indications, other treaments are available.
Photodynamic therapy consists of injecting a cancer-killing drug.
The drug is then taken up by the cancer cells and, when exposed to a specific wavelength of light, kills cancer cells. This therapy is used to treat very early lesions that can be seen on bronchoscopy or that are blocking an airway and limiting a patient's ability to breathe. Another treatment is bronchial artery chemotherapy. It consists of injecting chemotherapy drugs into a small artery supplying the lung. This therapy is another form of local treatment either of early tumors or of tumors that are blocking an airway.