Lung Cancer

• Smoking (causes up to 90% of lung cancers)
• Contact with asbestos, steel, nickel, chrome and coal gas processing
• Exposure to radiation. Miners of Uranium, Fluorspar and Hematite may be exposed to radiation by breathing air contaminated with Radon gas.

The symptoms of lung cancer are vague and overlap with infective conditions and other benign diseases. In some cases, the symptoms are diagnosed during routine health check-ups (X-ray Screening picks up a lung lesion). The most common symptoms are:

• A cough that won’t go away or a change in a chronic cough
• Shortness of breath
• Bloodstained sputum
• Chest pain
• High fever
• Unexplained weight loss
• Wheezing (due to a blockage in the windpipe)
• Repeated bouts of pneumonia
• Bronchitis may also be signs of lung cancer
• Hoarseness
• Difficulty in swallowing

Your doctor will first ask you about your past and current health, smoking and work history and do a physical examination. You may have to undergo the following tests:

• Chest X-ray
• Computerized Tomography Scan (CT Scan)
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan)
• Sputum Cytology
• Bronchoscopy
• Fine-Needle Aspiration
• Biopsy
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain
• Endo Bronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) – Trans Bronchial Needle Aspiration (TBNA)
• Mediastinoscopy
• Bone Scans
• Ventilation/Perfusion Lung Scans
• Thoracentesis
• Thoracotomy
• Blood Tests
• Breathing Tests
• Pulmonary Function Test (PFT)

The tests described above show whether you have cancer, where the primary cancer is and whether the cancer cells have spread to other parts of your body. This helps your doctors ‘stage’ the disease. Staging is necessary for doctors to decide the treatment strategy for you.

Max Institute of Cancer Care (MICC) is one of the leading facilities in India, which offers the latest treatments under surgical oncology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology. It is one of the largest chain of lung cancer treatment in india, with a presence in Saket, Patparganj, Shalimar Bagh, Vaishali, Mohali and Bathinda. The centres are highly efficient and offer specialized and dedicated daycare with all significant sub-specialties, disease management groups and privacy to cancer patients.

With over 100 oncologists, Max Institute of Cancer Care provides world-class treatment facilities and focused care to cure various types of oncological diseases. The facility has the best cancer specialists, many of whom specialize in treating lung cancer. The team of specialists includes oncologists, surgical oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, pulmonologists, medical geneticists, genetic counsellors, and other staff. The lung cancer specialists can identify abnormalities or other pulmonary issues sooner for improved outcomes.

Max Institute of Cancer care (MICC) offers state-of-the-art services for early diagnosis, staging, treatment and hospital-based care of Disease management group (DMG) of lung cancer. Site-specific oncology allows the clinicians involved in patients' care to focus only on certain cancers at which they become world experts. The meetings are held every week to discuss about all the patients diagnosed with DMG specific cancer and arrive at the best treatment plan for the patient. The Surgical, Radiation, Medical and specialists of the lung cancer DMG along with the Pathologists, Molecular Oncologists and Radiologists attend these weekly meetings.

All the patients seen between these meetings are, however, discussed in the common tumour Boards held once a week. Our holistic cancer care includes the following:

• Adherence to the latest international cancer treatment protocols
• Superior cancer treatment technology: Max Institute of Cancer Care is the first facility in Northern India to acquire Novalis Tx for IMRT/IGRT, Radiosurgery, SRS/5RT. Other technologies at our disposal include Da Vinci XI Robotic System and Linear Accelerator (LINAC).
• Complete cancer care: Right from cancer screening, early detection, multidisciplinary treatment to rehabilitation.
• Dedicated daycare chemotherapy centres outside the hospital or in separate areas with chemo chairs-and-recliners, patient beds, a library, TV sets, and iPads are provided to take patients’ minds off from the treatment.
• A wider range of medical resources to draw from, with our multi-super speciality backups.

Tumor Board

At Max Institute of Cancer Care (MICC), we are committed to recuperating our patients as soon as possible and provides lung cancer treatment in india. We believe that each patient and his/her disease is unique. Hence, our team of lung cancer experts prepare a 'personalized treatment plan' based on the discussions in Tumor Board meetings. There is a constant cross chat between the various specialities at the DMG Tumour Board meetings of lung cancer.

The main aim behind the DMGs at MICC is to make the best skills available to the patients. The team consists of experts from surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, pathology, imaging and related disciplines who come together in the Tumor Board meetings to discuss various cases and form a customized/joint decision on the treatment plan.

Max Institute of Cancer Care is equipped with cutting-edge technology with which our team of oncology experts offer holistic care to patients. The main treatments for lung cancer are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The choice of treatment will depend on the type of lung cancer you have, stage of the disease, whether your lungs are working properly, your general health and what you want.

SURGERY

If your cancer has not spread beyond the affected lung and same side of mediastinum, your general health is reasonably good, and your breathing capacity is sufficient, the treatment that gives the best chance of cure is surgery.

• Lobectomy: It is  the most commonly performed operation for lung cancer, this involves removing the affected part of the lung.
• Pneumonectomy: A surgery where the whole lung on the affected side is removed.
• Sleeve Resection: It is a complex procedure with a purpose to preserve as much normal functional lung as possible. Only a part of the airway affected with cancer alongwith lung tissue is removed. The remaining lung is then reattached to the remaining part of the airway. 
• Non anatomical/Wedge Resection: Depending on the extent of cancer, the surgeon may decide to remove part of the lobe of the lung taking out only a part of the lobe of a lung. It is usually performed either with an intention to obtain tissue for diagnosis or in frail patients for removing cancerous tissues who would otherwise not tolerate a lobectomy.
• Chest Wall Resection: In certain cases, if the lung cancer affects ribs or muscles of the chest in continuity with the main tumor, it may be needed to be removed. The defect, so created in the chest is then filled by using flesh and muscles along with prosthetic material like mesh and bone cement.
• Diagnostic Thoracoscopy: This allows the doctor to see inside the chest and to take tissue samples for biopsy, if necessary.
• Mediastinoscopy: When the nodes in the mediastinum look suspicious but have not been correctly identified as harboring disease by EBUS, it may be necessary to perform a surgical excision of these nodes, to better characterise the nature of abnormailty affecting them. 

CHEMOTHERAPY

This is the treatment of cancer with anti-cancer drugs. The aim is to destroy cancer cells while doing the least possible damage to normal cells. The drugs work by stopping cancer cells from multiplying. Chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for patients with small cell carcinoma. In non-small cell carcinoma, you may also have chemotherapy after surgery to remove cancer, to increase the chances of cure. This is called ‘adjuvant’ chemotherapy.

RADIATION THERAPY:

This treatment involves using high-energy beams to kill cancer cells and shrink tumours. Newer techniques of Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) and Image-Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) ensure maximum dose to the tumour safeguarding the normal uninvolved organs from adverse effects. There is also Gated Radiation Therapy, where the lung tumour is targeted in a particular phase of the breathing cycle.

TARGETED THERAPY/IMMUNOTHERAPY:

Some people, usually non-smokers are suitable for a newer class of drugs that are designed to act against specific weaknesses in cancer cells or surrounding supportive tissues, such as blood vessels. These drugs can also be taken by pill or by IV. They are most effective in cancers with specific changes in their genes.

• Lung Cancer: Symptoms, Causes, Tests, Treatment
• What Are the Stages of Lung Cancer?
• The early symptoms and signs of lung cancer
• What You Did Not Know About Lung Cancer
• Lung Cancer – The Silent Killer
• Suffering from Lung Cancer-It is not your fault!