Lung Cancer Care and Treatment in Brevard County

Lung cancer can happen to anyone. Men and women who smoke are about 25 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers. But at least 20% of those diagnosed with lung cancer never smoked at all! Whether you’re young or old, a smoker or nonsmoker, it’s important to be on the lookout for lung cancer symptoms.

Lung cancers are broadly classified into two types, small cell lung cancers and non-small cell lung cancers. The difference between the two primary types of lung cancer is literally the size of the cancer cells. Small cell lung cancer cells appear small and round under a microscope while non-small cell lung cancer cells are larger.

There are multiple tests used to detect, diagnose, and stage lung cancer. The tests used with each patient will vary based on the type and whether it’s suspected that the cancer has spread outside of the lungs.

After determining a diagnosis of small cell or non-small cell lung cancer there may be additional testing to determine if the cancer cells have spread within the chest or to other parts of the body. Information gathered determines the stage of the disease and the treatment plan.

The type of treatment you receive for lung cancer will depend on the type of lung cancer that you've been diagnosed with, as well as the stage and your overall health. The experts at Cancer Care Centers of Brevard will walk you through your personalized lung cancer care treatment options.

When it comes to lung cancer, no one is immune to the possibility of developing it— and unfortunately, there are several risk factors that can leave you more susceptible than others. While there are some obvious risk factors, like smoking, that can be changed, other risk factors, like genetics, cannot.

Several gene mutations are associated with non-small lung cancer development. Based on the results of biomarker tests, lung cancer doctors create a treatment plan personalized to the specific genetic mutations found during testing. The absence of genetic mutations also provides information to the oncology team when developing a treatment plan.