Treatments to help you breathe when you have lung cancer
Metastatic (advanced) lung cancer can cause problems with your breathing. Some treatments may help clear cancer that has grown into the airways or lungs. This can help you breathe more easily.
Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of treatment with your doctor is important. This helps you make the right decision for you.
Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy is a way of killing cancer cells by freezing them. It is also called cryosurgery or cryoablation.
Cryotherapy can shrink a tumour that is blocking an airway. This can relieve breathlessness and other symptoms such as a cough, coughing up blood or a chest infection in the blocked part of the lung.
Radiofrequency ablation
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a type of electrical energy.
You have RFA using one or more special needles called needle electrodes. The electrical current from the needle heats the cancer cells to high temperatures, which destroys them. The heat only travels a short distance, so it doesn’t generally affect the tissue around it.
Diathermy
Diathermy treatment uses an electrical current to destroy cancer cells. It is also called electrocautery or thermocautery.
You might have diathermy treatment if your cancer is blocking an airway and making it difficult for you to breathe. The treatment helps you to breathe more easily afterwards.
Laser therapy
Laser therapy uses a focused beam of light to destroy cancer cells. You might have this treatment if your lung cancer blocks an airway and makes you breathless.
Microwave ablation
Microwave ablation uses high frequency microwave energy to kill cancer cells. It is a treatment for some large lung cancers. It can destroy a tumour that is blocking the airway. This helps you to breathe more easily.
Tube to keep the airway open (stent)
If your airway is partly blocked by a lung cancer it can make breathing hard. Your doctor might suggest that you have a tube called a stent put into the airway to keep it open. This can help you to breathe more easily.
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