Surgery is typically used to treat localized lung cancer. But lung surgery might not be appropriate for you if your cancer has metastasized or is very near any of the following structures:

• The heart
• The windpipe
• Major blood vessels
• The food pipe (oesophagus)
• Is man-made steroids used to help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy

In these circumstances, your doctor might recommend other cancer treatments as an alternative of surgery.

Using drugs to kill cancer cells. It works by distressing the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy is the key treatment for small cell lung cancer. Chemotherapy drugs circulate in the bloodstream around the body. Thus, chemotherapy can treat cells that have spread away from the lung tumour and spread to other parts of the body.

Targeted therapy disrupts the way cancer cells signal or interact with each other, causing them to stop growing and dividing. This treatment often has fewer side effects because they focus on targeting what is exactly wrong with the cancer cell, instead of killing normal, healthy cells too.

For example, EGFR inhibitors, an oral medication, can be used alone without chemotherapy as the first treatment to block the signal from EGFR that tells the cells to grow for advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR gene mutations. However, it is only suitable for patients with certain specific mutations found in the tumour.

Immunotherapy stimulates the body’s immune system to recognize, attack and kill cancer cells. Immunotherapy may not be suggested for all patients, and responses to the treatment may vary widely. Immunotherapy may also be used in combination with other treatments such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a non-surgical radiation therapy used to treat functional abnormalities and small tumours of the brain. It can deliver precisely-targeted radiation in fewer high-dose treatments than traditional therapy, which can help preserve healthy tissue.