Lung Cancer Treatment Treatment Cost in India

The organ lung is a part of the respiratory system which is worked when one breathes. They are located on either side of the chest. The right lung has 3 main parts and is called lobes and the left lung is smaller with 2 lobes. There is a thin covering around the lung which is called a pleura. Lung cancer first appears in the cells of the lungs. Malignant or cancerous tumors consist of cancer cells that can grow abnormally to destroy normal healthy tissues around. It spreads or metastasizes to other parts of the body. It is called primary lung cancer when it appears in the lung cells first.

The cells change and behave abnormally in the lungs and can lead to benign or non-cancerous tumors called hamartoma or papilloma. But, in some cases, they grow cancerous. They are divided into two basic types:

Non-small cell lung cancer: The glandular cells present in the outer part of the lung display the first cancerous growth appearance. It's called adenocarcinoma. They can also begin in the flat squamous epithelial cells that line the bronchi (the airways that branch out into the lungs from the trachea or windpipe).  It's also known as lung squamous cell carcinoma. Large cell carcinoma is another type in this group as well, though it is rare. Certain rare cancer forms include both sarcomatoid carcinoma and sarcoma.

Small cell lung cancer: These start in the bronchi. They are mixed tumor types with squamous and glandular cells. 

The cancers that start elsewhere and finally spread to lung cancer are different from primary lung cancer and it is called lung metastases. Another rare type of cancer called the pleural mesothelioma is often by mistake regarded as lung cancer. But this starts in the pleura which covers the lung and is different from primary lung cancer.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer include:

• Breath shortness
• Cough which does not go away on treatment
• Pain chest
• Wheezing sensation
• Presence of blood in mucus
• Pneumonia or bronchitis
• Fatigue and weakness
• Weight loss
• Problems in swallowing
• Hoarseness in the voice
• Bone pain and headache
• Collapsed lung
• Fluid buildup in the lungs?

Most of the lung cancer is caused due to active and passive smoking, which is people who smoke and also people who are exposed to smoking. Doctors state that smoking makes immediate damaging changes in the cells that are lining the lungs. When the smoke is inhaled, there are cancers causing substances called carcinogens that change the tissues almost at that moment.  In the initial stages, the changes can be counteracted by the body but with prolonged exposure, it becomes a permanent change made. However, lung cancer is also found among people who neither smoke nor are they exposed to smoking. In such cases, the cause cannot be exactly outlined. Even people with a family history of lung cancer can suffer from this problem or who are exposed to radon gas or inhaling asbestos fiber in their day to day life. The best lung cancer hospital is available in India where one can get treated effectively.

33 percent of patients with lung cancer are diagnosed with a localized disease which can be treated by surgical resection. And maybe paired with definitive radiotherapy if needed. About 33 percent suffer from tumors affecting the lymph node. Here, the treatment involves chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgical resection. The last 33% will suffer from a condition where bloodstreams have carried cancer to other body organs.

Surgery: The patients who are in good health and have been detected with early-stage cancer, their infected lobe of the lung will be eliminated which houses the tumor. But then lung cancer is usually found among smokers who are above the age of 50 and in such cases, the risks of surgery are too high. Open thoracotomy or less invasive video-assisted thoracic surgery is used with small-sized incisions among selected patients.

Lobectomy: When the lungs are in good condition then removal of the entire lobe of the lung is the most suitable approach and the mortality risk is as low as 3 to 4% only and it is higher among senior patients. If the functions of lungs prohibit lobectomy then the tumor must be removed with some small surrounding tissues in the lungs. This kind of procedure is called sublobar resection and it can either be a segmentectomy or wedge resection. In this case the chances or recurrence increase. The sublobar resection has a mortality risk of 1.4% and loss of lung function is minimal. If the entire lung has to be removed, then the procedure is called pneumonectomy and the mortality rate is also increased to 5 to 8%. In most cases, due to the age of the patient, it is not possible.

Radiofrequency ablation or RFA and microwave ablation or MWA: These use image guidance technique for placing a needle into the tumor through the skin of the chest. In RFA the electric currents are passed through an electrode in high frequency to create heat in the small region. In MWA microwaves are produced for the creation of heat in a constricted region. The heat aims to destroy the cells that are cancerous. These are effective for patients who have trouble in getting surgeries done.

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy: It delivers high energy x-rays that are capable of destroying the rapidly dividing cancer cells and it finds many uses in the treatment of lung cancer. They are also helpful in relieving some of the symptoms associated with the tumor. This is the initial treatment that is associated with surgery and can be combined with chemotherapy. Stereotactic body radiation therapy or SBRT is being considered for patients who cannot undergo surgery. Multiple small but focused radiation beams target the lung tumor in a series of 3 to 5 treatments. Most radiation therapy is given to patients with the help of an external beam technique and aims a beam of x-rays directly at the tumor.

In brachytherapy, the radiation is given to the site directly placing radioactive seeds on the primary tumor surgically.

Chemotherapy: This involves the administration of drugs that are toxic to the cancer cells and they are usually given by direct injection into the vein or by placing a catheter in the large vein. This is usually given to sterilize microscopic diseases after surgery. Significant side effects are commonly associated with chemotherapy such as vomiting, nausea and general damage to the immunity of the body to combat infection effectively.

One thing is common for all the procedures above, the patient needs to make serious changes in their lifestyle like quit smoking or being close to even a smoker, eat healthily and reduce exposure to harmful substances.

Lesser invasive surgical methods are being studied. They have a very small incision and allow the patient to be out of his or her bed within hours after the surgery ends.

Immunotherapy is another method that makes use of a patient's immune system for controlling the growth of cancer. Certain studies have even depicted that patients’ rate of survival improves with these drugs.

In gene therapy cancer cells are killed or their growth is retarded when healthy genes are directly delivered into the lung tumor.

There is also an experimental approach that is being worked upon called the ‘angiogenesis inhibitors’. These agents work by preventing the blood vessels from supplying blood to the growing tumors. This technique may have very little side effects associated with it which can make this form of treatment very successful.

Cost of wedge resection is $3000, the cost of Pneumonectomy is $5000, Cost of radiation therapy and chemotherapy are $4000 each. So, the total cost of treatment is anywhere between $7000 - $14000. These costs are almost 5 to 6 times lesser compared to the costs incurred for the same treatments in the USA. Cancer treatment options are getting better with time in India and really cost-effective which is attracting many people across the globe to seek help.?