Lung Cancer Treatment

Expert, leading cancer care

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes, lung cancer is the third-most common cancer in the United States, but it’s the leading cause of death from cancer. Lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer combined. While we understand how overwhelming it can feel to learn that you have lung cancer, the disease is highly treatable in its early stages. That’s why it’s important to locate and treat lung cancer as soon as possible. Getting screened for lung cancer as early as possible gives you a better chance for successful treatment.

Our doctors at Henry Ford Cancer provide complete, compassionate care to more than 500 people each year. We work closely with our colleagues in interventional pulmonology as part of our expert care.

Our lung cancer treatment options

Your team of doctors will work together on your case during our weekly tumor board meeting. During this meeting, specialists from many fields share their expertise to design the most effective treatment plan for you. You and your doctor will discuss these options and decide what to include as part of your personalized treatment plan.

Your treatment likely will include one or more of the following:

• Lung cancer surgery: We remove cancerous tumors whenever possible, and our minimally invasive approaches mean less pain, faster recovery and minimal scarring.
• Medication therapy: We use chemotherapy (specialized drugs that kill cancer cells), targeted therapy (treatments that target genes and proteins specific to cancer cells) and immunotherapy (treatments that boost your immune system’s ability to fight cancer) medications to shrink and destroy lung cancer tumors.
• Photodynamic therapy: As part of our interventional pulmonology and bronchoscopy options, we use a specialized laser and medication to kill lung cancer cells.
• Clinical trials: We run one of the nation’s most active programs for lung cancer clinical trials, and you may be able to access the latest treatment options before they’re widely available elsewhere.
• Targeted therapy: As part of our Precision Medicine program, we routinely use genetic analysis to test certain advanced lung cancer tumors. This lets us determine whether you may be a good candidate for innovative targeted therapies.

For advanced cancers, we offer combination therapies, such as immunotherapy together with radiation therapy, to shrink or destroy tumors. In addition, we offer several options to help ease your lung cancer symptoms and let you breathe easier, such as airway management procedures to remove tumors and repair airway injuries, as well as airway stenting to open closed airways and keep them open.

Your nurse navigator

As part of your treatment, we’ll pair you with a dedicated nurse navigator. Your nurse navigator will help you schedule appointments, answer questions and connect you with additional support, including therapies for symptom management.

Lung cancer survivorship support

Our care for you isn’t only about treating your lung cancer. We want to make sure you and your loved ones get the support you need throughout the treatment process and beyond. We offer many support services to help you get through this challenging time in your life. We also can connect you with support organizations in our community and nationally.