Lung Cancer
Integrative Treatment Options for All Stages of Lung Cancer
Lung Cancer Holistic Treatment Center
With a 5-year relative survival rate of only 22.9%, lung cancer should be one of medical science’s top priorities. Given such a dismal prognosis, finding natural treatment options that bypass or augment traditional therapies gives lung patients hope where there once was none.
At Brio-Medical, we provide lung cancer patients with a broad range of integrative cancer treatments that have given them a new lease on life. If you’re living with lung cancer or have a loved one who’s dealing with it, arm yourself to fight it with the latest information about this killer disease.
What Is Lung Cancer?
Lung cancer starts when cells in the bronchi (the lungs’ many air passageways) or the glands underneath the bronchi’s lining begin to mutate and grow out of control. Eventually, these cells form tumors.
Early detection is critical in achieving an optimum outcome. Since these tumors won’t stop growing without treatment, it’s always best to pursue intervention as soon as possible.
What Causes Lung Cancer?
While some non-smokers do develop lung cancer due to random cellular mutations or metastases from tumors elsewhere in the body, people who smoke are at the greatest risk of developing the disease. The longer a person smokes, the greater their risk.
However, people who smoke can reduce their risk significantly by quitting. After quitting, former smokers should ask their doctor about the benefits of a low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan to detect any malignant growths that are still too small to cause symptoms.
Exposure to asbestos, radon gas, and other toxins can also increase the risk of lung cancer. Wearing proper protection when working on home repair projects can help reduce the chance of getting the disease.
Other causes include having a previous course of radiation therapy, particularly if the treatment targeted the chest, and a family history of having lung cancer. African-American males are also at a higher risk for lung cancer than other demographics.
What Types of Lung Cancer Are There?
There are two main types of lung cancer: non-small cell and small cell.
Non-small cell lung cancer
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common form. Although it usually grows more slowly than the small cell type, early intervention is still essential for a successful outcome. Three forms of non-small cell lung cancer occur. They are:
- Adenocarcinomas
- Squamous cell carcinomas
- Large cell carcinomas
Small cell lung cancer
Small cell lung cancers represent only about 15% of all lung malignancies. These fast-growing cancers grow rapidly, spread quickly to other parts of the body, and are likely to have advanced to a dangerous stage by the time a doctor detects their presence.
What Are the Symptoms of Lung Cancer?
In its early stages, lung cancer shows few symptoms. For that reason, people at high risk should speak with their doctor about regular screenings.
At more advanced stages, the disease can cause the following symptoms:
- A persistent cough
- Coughing up blood
- Pain in the chest
- Shortness of breath
- Unexplained weight loss
- Bone pain
- Hoarseness
- Headaches
Patients who have any of these symptoms should see their doctor for a screening as soon as possible. Even at the later stages, treatment is possible – the earlier, the better.
How Do Doctors Diagnose Lung Cancer?
Unless a patient has regular screenings, diagnosis usually occurs when a doctor orders a CT scan or chest X-ray in response to symptoms and discovers abnormalities. After the initial scan, the doctor will usually recommend a biopsy, a procedure in which the doctor takes a tissue sample from the abnormal mass.
Depending on the tumor's location, doctors perform biopsies one of three ways – with a miniature camera fed into the breathing tubes (a bronchoscope), a needle inserted in the chest wall into the tumor, or in some cases, exploratory surgery.
What Are the Stages of Lung Cancer?
After your medical team discovers that you have lung cancer, the next step will be determining how large your tumor is and whether it has spread into nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or other parts of your body. This step, called staging, is essential in finding the treatment or treatments that will give you the best chance of recovery.
Doctors use several scanning and imaging procedures to determine the stage of your cancer is in, including:
- Positive emission tomography (PET) scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Computed tomography (CT) scans
Staging is an important step in choosing the best treatment for you. The stage of your cancer also helps doctors predict the outcome (result) of your treatment. To do this, we may recommend you have more tests, including imaging or biopsies.
Imaging tests to help learn the cancer stage include:
- Computed tomography (CT) scans
- Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scans
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain
There are four stages of lung cancer:
Stage 1: The tumor is small, confined to the lung, and has not spread to the lymph nodes or outside of the chest.
Stage 2: The tumor has grown to a size larger than 4 centimeters or has spread into nearby lymph nodes.
Stage 3: The tumor has spread into chest lymph nodes that lie further away from the lung, or there might be large tumors that have spread into lymph nodes nearby.
Stage 4: The cancer has spread beyond the chest into other parts of the body, such as into the other lung, the brain, bones, adrenal gland, or other remote areas of the body.
How Can I Prevent Lung Cancer?
In cancer, there are no guarantees since cells can mutate due to genetic factors, environmental factors that science has not discovered yet, or other unknown causes. However, taking the following precautions can give you the best chance of avoiding the disease:
Avoid smoking: The best prevention is not to start at all. However, if you’ve already been smoking for a while, quitting can lower your risk significantly.
Stay away from secondhand smoke: If you live with someone who smokes, ask them to smoke outside. Choose smoke-free restaurants and bars to spend your free time in.
Eat a diet rich in vitamins and minerals: Most vegetables and fruits are nutritional powerhouses. Many of the nutrients they contain, such as some phytochemicals, have demonstrated their ability to prevent cancer in a wealth of laboratory trials.
Exercise regularly: Exercise helps improve circulation, bringing more cancer-fighting nutrients into your lungs and other parts of your body. It’s a cancer fighter – and it strengthens your heart and lungs as a bonus.
Test your home and workplace for asbestos and radon contamination: If you find high levels of either of these substances, contact a qualified repair person to remedy the situation.
Which Natural Therapies Can Treat Lung Cancer?
Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery aren’t lung cancer patients’ only options for treatment. Patients can choose an alternative cancer treatment or combine non-toxic options with more traditional options. Here are some integrative therapies that have proven to help in the battle against lung cancer:
Natural immunotherapy
A 2021 medical literature review outlines the benefit of harnessing the body’s own immune system to fight off the ravages of lung cancer. Natural immunotherapy stimulates patients’ immune systems to produce natural killer cells, special cells that are deadly to cancer cells and other invaders.
Ozone Therapy
Although ozone is toxic to the body when breathed in, it has healing properties when administered as an ozone sauna, as an IV infusion, or in rectal or bladder insufflation. A 2018 medical literature review on ozone’s effectiveness in treating lung cancer revealed that ozone at specific concentrations reduced the spread of lung cancer – in some cases, inducing complete remission in the test subjects.
In addition, ozone provides an effective adjuvant to traditional therapies, the review showed. Its cytotoxic effect, again, at the proper concentration, inhibits the growth of tumor cells without harming the normal cells in the lung, “potentiating the effect” of chemotherapy.
Quercetin
One of the ways lung cancer progresses is through a substance called aurora B kinase, expressed in “several cancer cells,” including lung cancer. This substance induces tumorigenesis and disease progression, according to a 2016 study.
Quercetin, a powerful plant-derived flavonoid, the study showed, targets aurora B kinase, impeding tumor growth and stopping the progress of the disease.
Curcumin
In a 2015 study, researchers treated non-small cell human lung cancer cells (A549 cells) with various concentrations of curcumin, the active compound in turmeric. At concentrations of more than 75 μM, the researchers found, curcumin had a cytotoxic effect on the cells, making it an excellent candidate for both a standalone and adjuvant treatment for lung cancer.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid
A 2020 study discovered that alpha-lipoic acid, a powerful antioxidant found in various foods and the human body, inhibited lung cancer growth and reduced cancer cell viability. With cancer cells’ high metabolic rate, these cells need a biological process, autophagy, to drive cell survival.
Since alpha-lipoic acid inhibits autophagy, it should make an effective weapon in the battle against lung cancer. Additionally, inhibiting autophagy also activates the body’s own natural killer cells, doubling its power against the disease.
Discover How Holistic Medicine Could Help You Fight Lung Cancer
These therapies and more are available from the caring doctors at Brio-Medical. If you or a loved one has recently received a lung cancer diagnosis, we want to help you.
Learn what we can do for you in a free, no-obligation consultation. Schedule your consultation today!
External references:
“Lung and Bronchus Cancer.” National Cancer Institute, https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/lungb.html. Accessed September 5, 2022.
“Lung Cancer: Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620. Accessed September 5, 2022.
“Who Should Be Screened for Lung Cancer.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/screening.htm. Accessed September 6, 2022.
“Lung Cancer Prevention (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version.” National Cancer Institute, https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung/hp/lung-prevention-pdq. Accessed September 5, 2022.
“Lung Cancer.” Cleveland Clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4375-lung-cancer. Accessed September 5, 2022.
“Lung Cancer – Patient Version.” National Cancer Institute, https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung. Accessed September 5, 2022.
“Stages of Non-Small Cell and Small Cell Lung Cancer.” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/types/lung/diagnosis/stages-lung. Accessed September 6, 2022.
Wang, Chong et al. “The Associations of Fruit and Vegetable Intake with Lung Cancer Risk in Participants with Different Smoking Status: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies.” Nutrients vol. 11,8 1791. 2 Aug. 2019, doi:10.3390/nu11081791
Bae, Kyeore et al. “Integrative cancer treatment may have a survival benefit in patients with lung cancer: A retrospective cohort study from an integrative cancer center in Korea.” Medicine vol. 98,26 (2019): e16048. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000016048
Zeng, Yongqin et al. “Natural killer cell‑based immunotherapy for lung cancer: Challenges and perspectives (Review).” Oncology reports vol. 46,5 (2021): 232. doi:10.3892/or.2021.8183
Clavo, Bernardino et al. “Ozone Therapy as Adjuvant for Cancer Treatment: Is Further Research Warranted?.” Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM vol. 2018 7931849. 9 Sep. 2018, doi:10.1155/2018/7931849
Xingyu, Zhu et al. “Quercetin suppresses lung cancer growth by targeting Aurora B kinase.” Cancer medicine vol. 5,11 (2016): 3156-3165. doi:10.1002/cam4.891
Tsai, Jong-Rung et al. “Curcumin Inhibits Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells Metastasis through the Adiponectin/NF-κb/MMPs Signaling Pathway.” PloS one vol. 10,12 e0144462. 10 Dec. 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144462
Peng, Peipei et al. “Alpha-lipoic acid inhibits lung cancer growth via mTOR-mediated autophagy inhibition.” FEBS open bio vol. 10,4 (2020): 607-618. doi:10.1002/2211-5463.12820
