Complications of lung cancer treatment

In most cases lung cancer is incurable, but treatment is prolonging life for many and sustaining quality of life. Inevitably, disease-related symptoms develop with disease progression, and it can be difficult to differentiate these from treatment-induced complications. This is particularly true for pulmonary complications because tumor progression occurs most frequently in the lungs, and separating the effects of the disease from those induced by treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy) is often very difficult. This chapter identifies the main complications around surgical resection of lung cancer, highlighting the importance of expert postoperative care. For palliative treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, complications are related to the planned intensity of proposed therapy, the performance status of the patients, and patient age. Treatment of the elderly sufferer, now representing almost 50% of new cases, is poorly researched, but therapy-related complications are commoner in those aged over 70 years by similar to 20% when compared with their younger counterparts. Even during palliative care great attention has to be taken to minimize side effects of commonly used medications.