Your treatment plan will depend on the location of your tumor, the stage of the cancer, your age, and your general health. Whatever treatment plan your physician specifies, you will have the resources of Brown Cancer Center’s state of the art technology and most advanced methods of treatment.

Treatment options may include one or a combination of the following:

Surgery
Surgery to remove the tumor and some of the tissue around it can sometimes be performed. This procedure reduces the chance that the cancer will remain in your body. The type of surgery performed depends on the size and location of the tumor. Some tumors cannot be removed surgically because of their size or location, and some patients cannot have surgery for other medical reasons.

The da Vinci Si Surgical System allows University of Louisville surgeons to provide minimally invasive surgical treatments for some patients with lung cancer. For most patients, da Vinci Si offers numerous benefits over open surgery including:

• Better clinical outcomes for cancer control in many cases
• Quicker return to bowel function
• Quicker return to a normal diet
• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss
• Less risk of wound infection
• Shorter hospital stay
• Shorter recovery time

To learn more about the da Vinci Si Surgical system at University of Louisville Hospital, click here.

Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy, which is also called radiotherapy, uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy also may be used to relieve shortness of breath and other symptoms. Before you undergo radiation, a radiation oncologist and physicist plan the precise delivery of the radiation to minimize radiation to your vital organs and maximize the radiation to the affected area.

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center has the first nationally accredited radiation oncology program in Louisville, and is the first facility in Kentucky to offer the TrueBeam System by Varian. This system offers numerous benefits for patients including:

• Faster– TrueBeam’s technology makes it possible to deliver fast, accurate image-guided treatments. Treatments that once took 10 to 30 minutes can now be completed in less than two minutes.
• More precise and accurate – The precision is measured in increments of less than a millimeter and enhanced imaging fine-tunes the process.
• Less X-Ray Exposure – Patients are exposed to 25% less X-ray dose compared to earlier imaging technology.
• Motion Management – TrueBeam makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and adjust treatment accordingly while dose is being delivered to ensure the utmost accuracy towards the targeted area.
• More comfortable – Fast treatment time means a shorter interruption of your daily life.

To learn more about TrueBeam, click here

Respiratory Gating
The Brown Cancer Center uses the latest technologies available to treat patients. Respiratory gating is a high-resolution radiation therapy that significantly improves and defines the tumor contour. This allows for the maximum radiation dose to the tumor, while minimizing the damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. Respiratory gating uses a special filter to deliver radiation safely and in synchronization with your breathing patterns.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery is a treatment option for patients with early-stage, non-small cell lung cancer who are unable to undergo surgery because of another medical condition such as emphysema or heart disease. Your physician uses a small linear particle accelerator to administer radiation directly to the tumor in a highly targeted, non-invasive procedure.

Brachytherapy
Brachytherapy is a radiation technique which uses radioactive seeds temporarily implanted inside the tumor in the lung. This procedure may need to be repeated more than once.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The drugs enter the bloodstream and travel through out the body. Chemotherapy may be recommended to kill any remaining cancer cells following surgery, or to control cancer growth and relieve symptoms. Most chemotherapy drugs are given intravenously or in pill form.

Target Therapy
Target therapy is a process of stopping the development of a new blood vessel from forming in the cancer cells. It also blocks substances needed to slow down the growth of the tumor. Target therapy is used to treat advanced non-small lung cancer.

Clinical trials and research

In addition to using the most advanced methods of diagnosis and treatment, the Brown Cancer Center is constantly examining new approaches to cancer treatment. Brown Cancer Center physicians participate in and initiate a wide range of ongoing clinical trials and research, giving you access to new therapies that may not yet be available in other parts of the world.

Contact

If you have general questions about your condition, the Brown Cancer Center, or free services available to you and your loved ones, please contact the M. Krista Loyd Resource Center at 502.562.4158 or 866.530.5516.