Lung Cancer Treatment Side Effects

According to the Mayo Clinic, lung cancer causes the most deaths among Americans of any type of cancer. Lung cancer is often not detected until it is at advanced stages, which directly impacts the most effective type of treatment. Treatments for lung cancer include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, which may be done on their own or in combination depending on the stage and extent of cancer in the body.

Wedge resection

• Wedge resection is typically done on small lung tumors, and side effects include bleeding, swelling, infection and shortness of breath.

Pneumonectomy

• Pneumonectomy is the surgical removal of an entire lung, with side effects including weakness, difficulty breathing and a limited range of motion after surgery.

Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy uses drugs that go throughout the body to target cancer cells and can cause nausea, vomiting, hair loss, weakness and immune suppression.

External radiation

• External radiation used to treat lung cancer can cause side effects such as fatigue, redness or a sunburned look to the skin, loss of chest hair, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Brachytherapy

• Brachytherapy is radioactive medicine that is implanted internally to target cancer cells, and the side effects are the same as external beam radiation but less severe.

Bevacizumab

• Bevacizumab (Avastin) is a targeted drug therapy that directly attacks cancer cells by reducing their access to the blood supply, and according to the Mayo Clinic, side effects include internal bleeding.

Erlotinib

• Erlotinib (Tarceva) is another type of targeted drug therapy that blocks the ability of cancer cells to reproduce, which slows their growth, and side effects include skin rash and diarrhea.