What is the best treatment strategy when lung cancer occurs?

  Comprehensive lung cancer treatment = surgery (early stage patients) + chemotherapy + targeted therapy + radiotherapy (patients with radiotherapy indications) + thermotherapy + interventional therapy + Chinese herbal medicine + optimal supportive therapy + diet therapy + psychotherapy + self-regulation + spiritual support for patients’ families Surgery is still the first choice of treatment for tumors and the most effective treatment for localized early stage tumors. However, with surgery alone, many patients eventually die of recurrence and metastasis even after undergoing so-called “super radical surgery”, and even in the case of stage I non-small cell lung cancer, about 30% die of distant metastasis and/or recurrence 5 years after surgical resection. Radiotherapy is an effective treatment to control unresectable local lesions, but it cannot solve the problem of metastasis or recurrence; chemotherapy kills tumor cells in various parts of the patient’s body directly or indirectly by various drugs, but it is not as effective as radiotherapy for local lesions with a large tumor load; biological therapy, especially monoclonal antibody therapy with a clear target of anti-gene products, is more effective than radiotherapy in some tumors, such as advanced breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Biologic therapy, especially monoclonal antibody therapy with anti-gene products with clear targets, has good efficacy in some tumors such as advanced breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and malignant lymphoma, especially when used in combination with chemotherapy, and has a certain effect on prolonging survival, but is still under research.  Based on the advantages and disadvantages of the above treatments, the concept of comprehensive treatment has been gradually developed in the treatment of solid tumors including lung cancer. In other words, according to the patient’s physical condition, the pathological type of tumor, the scope of invasion (stage of disease) and the trend of development, all available treatments are applied in a planned and rational manner in order to maximize the efficacy and improve the patient’s quality of life. At present, the treatment of various tumors, including lung cancer, is in the era of comprehensive treatment, and no single treatment can replace the mode of comprehensive treatment.  In general, surgical resection is the main treatment for early stage (I and II), and post-operative adjuvant treatment is based on specific conditions; stage III (including resectable IIIA) is based on comprehensive treatment; stage IV is based on chemotherapy and improvement of quality of life, and palliative radiotherapy or interventional treatment can be performed for certain metastases according to specific conditions. How to combine the local treatment means such as surgery, radiotherapy, interventional therapy and thermotherapy with the systemic treatment such as chemotherapy, biotherapy, targeted therapy, gene therapy and traditional Chinese medicine to achieve the best treatment effect is an extremely complicated issue and a hot topic for oncologists to research and explore. To date, the best integrated treatment model for lung cancer is also under study.