End Stage Lung Cancer

End stage lung cancer refers to terminal lung cancer in which surgery is not an option, and radiation and/or chemotherapy have limited or no efficacy. This triad of conventional lung cancer treatments is the extent of mainstream approaches to a lung cancer cure. Although techniques have improved in recent years, the survival rate indicates how far conventional medicine must go to find alternative cancer remedies.

Laser therapy is currently in use at some cancer centers and hospitals, and photodynamic therapy (PDT) is being explored. Chemoprevention, in which drugs are used in combination with vitamins and other natural substances, is more accepted by mainstream medicine and is finding its way into centers that use integrative medicine. Regardless of the type of treatment, the early-stage survival rate for non small cell lung cancer, the least aggressive type, is 80 percent, and the rate drops precipitously after that.

End Stage Lung Cancer Therapy

Treatment for end stage lung cancer is limited to palliative measures intended to decrease the patient’s discomfort and pain, and increase mental control over side effects. Surgery is only feasible in early stages when the tumor is small; for end stage lung cancer, chemo is the only offering from conventional medicine. With these limited procedures, it is understandable that desperate, terminal patients have turned to other avenues to try to find any therapy that will give them hope.

For practitioners of alternative medicine, the cancer tumor is a symptom, and so they approach the patient holistically with substances and lifestyle changes intended to build the immune system, reduce stress, and maintain a healthy regimen. Techniques include the use of enzymes, detoxification to rid the body of the effects of unhealthy habits, and chemotherapy alternatives, such as carnivora and amygdalin.