Can Lung Cancer Be Cured?

Surgery may be an option in certain instances, depending on how far the cancer has spread. If detected early enough, doctors may be able to remove only part of or all of your lung (lobectomy or pneumonectomy). Surgery can either be performed through an open cut in your chest or side – known as thoracotomy – or via video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS).

For early-stage lung tumors, chemotherapy and radiation may be prescribed prior to surgery in order to shrink them – this process is known as neoadjuvant therapy or presurgical treatment. Postoperative chemotherapy/radiation treatments may also be administered as adjuvant therapy to kill any remaining cancer cells that remain.

Medical oncologists at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Centre use various medicines to treat non-small cell lung cancer, including chemotherapy (a class of drugs that destroy cancer cells), targeted therapy (blocking specific proteins within cancer cells), and immunotherapy (boosting your natural immunity response).

Cryotherapy may also be used to freeze tumors or an airway stent device to assist breathing more freely (pleural effusion). We offer treatment that will drain away fluid in this space surrounding your lung in your chest cavity (pleural effusion). Furthermore, pain management, swelling reduction, and other side effects associated with metastatic lung cancer can be addressed effectively using targeted medicines and approaches.