There are many ways to treat lung cancer. The main ones are:
- surgery
- radiotherapy
- chemotherapy
- targeted therapies
- immunotherapy
If you have lung cancer, you might need one of these, or a combination of them.
Your doctor will yarn with you about what treatments they recommend, and what options are best for you.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about which treatment you might have. You can also discuss how to combine your medical treatment with traditional healing, bush medicine and cultural practices as part of your treatment plan.
Surgery
Surgery is a procedure done to take out the cancer and help to stop it from spreading to other parts of your body. Surgery involves staying in hospital and having an anaesthetic and an operation.
Depending on the extent of the cancer, some people have just part of a lung removed or the whole lung may be removed.
Many people with lung cancer have some of the lymph nodes in their chest or under their arms removed during surgery.
The doctor will talk to you beforehand about what is going to happen. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about surgery.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells in one part of your body.
Most people who have radiotherapy have it every day (Monday to Friday) for 4-6 weeks, and each session can take 15 minutes. But it might be different for you.
You can only have radiotherapy in cities and some big towns – see this list. If your doctor thinks radiotherapy would help, and you don’t live near a radiotherapy site, assistance is available for travel and accommodation for you and your family.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker or social worker.
Read more about radiotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, or ‘chemo’ involves you taking strong drugs to kill or slow the growth of the cancer cells.
Many people have chemo in cycles – usually two days every three weeks, or one day every three weeks. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Your doctor may recommend that you need to have chemotherapy at the same time as you are having radiotherapy. This is usually given once a week as an injection before you have radiation therapy.
Most chemo comes as injections into your arm or hand that drip in over a few hours. Some chemo or medications come as tablets. If you’re having chemo, your doctor will tell you exactly how it will work for you.
Chemo can make people feel sick for a while, but there are things they can do to help. Mob who have had chemo say that combining medical treatment with traditional healing, bush medicine, Men’s Business, Women’s Business and cultural practices and traditional practices to help with managing address side effects.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about chemotherapy and side effects.
Targeted therapies
Targeted therapies are newer drugs that try to stop the cancer growing. Targeted therapies attack cancer cells without harming healthy cells. If your doctor thinks they might help, here are some questions to ask.
Read more about targeted therapy.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is treatment with drugs that help your immune system attack the cancer cells.
Immunotherapy is given in your arm through a vein. It is usually given in cycles of once every few weeks. You will need to go to a hospital or clinic to have this treatment.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker and ask to yarn with other mob who have had the treatment.
Read more about immunotherapy.