Mortality rate for surgery is 5-10 percent. Of all lung cancer patients, 25-40 percent undergo surgery. 20 to 33 percent undergo an attempted curative resection. 5 to 8 percent of cancers cannot be removed because they are too widespread. 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.