Radiotherapy is used alone for cancers unsuitable for resection and as adjuvant therapy in cases where resection is inadequate or nodes are involved. Radiotherapy is now site-specific and side effects are minimal. Some patients undergoing lung irradiation for large primaries develop pneumonitis. This presents with fever and dyspnoea, and usually settles rapidly with high-dose oral steroids. Mesothelioma Mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose and, in most cases, has a very poor prognosis.
Surgery is the treatment of choice in the rare cases in which cure is a possibility.
When lung cancer progresses, both metastatic disease and local extension can lead to symptoms. Locally extensive disease can result in Horner's syndrome, vocal cord paralysis, phrenic nerve damage and obstruction of any structure in the chest, most frequently the superior vena cava. While metastatic disease can arise anywhere, the most common sites are the other lung , liver , brain and bone. Specific sites should only be investigated in response to the development of symptoms or signs. Palliative radiotherapy is used in the treatment of pain, obstructions and haemoptysis, and to achieve control of locally extensive disease.