Diagnosis and Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common form of lung cancer, accounting for about 80 percent of all lung cancer cases, and is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women.

When you’re facing such a serious disease, you deserve the best care. Physicians at the Stanford Cancer Center:

• Treat thousands of NSCLC patients every year.
  
  
• Offer the most advance technology available today to both diagnosis and treatment.
  
  
• Actively participate in clinical trials, bringing cutting-edge therapies to patients as early as possible.

Stanford Expertise

A Personalized, Team Approach
The Cancer Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to NSCLC through the Thoracic Oncology Program, meaning that your case will be evaluated by a treatment team that includes faculty physicians from surgery, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, medical oncology, and pulmonary medicine.

This Multidisciplinary Thoracic Tumor Board develops a personalized treatment plan, including you in the process, ensuring that all possible treatment approaches have been considered and the one that is best for you is put into place.

The Best Technology
At the Cancer Center, our physicians are some of the leaders in their fields and have access to the most advanced technologies available to provide for your care.

Our programs and expertise can be outlined as follows:

Diagnosis

• Spiral CT screening for lung cancer, one of the most advanced computer-aided diagnostic systems to assist in screening for abnormalities
  
  
• Expertise in CT-directed biopsy to ensure that biopsies contain the cells that will yield the most accurate analysis.
  
  
• PET (positron emission tomography) imaging, both investigational and for staging of lung cancer to ensure that you receive the most appropriate treatment.
  
  
• Fine Needle Aspirate Team -- specialized pathologists skilled in making a diagnosis from a tiny number of cells or tissue obtained by less invasive fine-needle aspiration.

Treatment

• Experienced surgeons, particularly for complex cases.
  
  
• Radiofrequency ablation, an advanced, minimally invasive procedure that uses a heat-generating, electrode-tipped catheter to destroy tumor cells.
  
  
• CyberKnife, an advanced stereotactic radiosurgery device that uses computer technology to deliver radiation therapy with unprecedented precision.
  
  
• Photodynamic therapy program with laser for removing obstructing lesions.
  
  
• Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) that allows doctors to deliver a high dose of radiation to the tumor site while a patient is still in the operating room during surgery. One-time IORT is more convenient than traditional radiotherapy and reduces the exposure of healthy tissues to radiation.
  
  
• Intensity modulated radiation (IMRT) that reduces the dose of radiation received by healthy tissue, and can allow doctors to deliver radiation to difficult-to-reach areas.
  
  
• Hypoxic cell sensitizers (tirapazimine) -- special medications that enhance the power of radiation to kill of cancer cells.
  
  
• Brachytherapy -- the placement of radioactive materials at the tumor site to deliver more targeted radiation therapy and make treatment more convenient.
  
  
• Bronchial stenting that opens up airways and makes breathing easier.
  
  
• Novel therapies for metastatic disease
  • Antisense therapy plus chemotherapy
  • New taxanes
  • Modulation of multidrug resistance
  • Dendritic cell vaccines
  • Autologous tumor cell vaccines
    
    
• Clinical trials of chemotherapy, radiation, and new surgical techniques for patients with advanced disease.