Why Fox Chase is Among Best Lung Cancer Treatment Centers

If you are diagnosed with lung cancer, you want the prognosis — but your first step should be to learn all of your treatment options. Depending on your type of lung cancer, treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy for lung cancer. Specialists at Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center are among the nation's best, offering treatment for inoperable lung cancer, cancer recurrence (the cancer coming back) and complex cases.

Expert Doctors

• Fox Chase physicians are among the nation's leaders in lung cancer research. They are key members of national cooperative research groups, such as the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and Early Detection Research Partners (EDRN). As a lung cancer patient, you will have access to the newest lung cancer clinical trials with the latest lung cancer treatment options. This results in better outcomes for you.
• Our team of doctors from all specialties meets regularly to review and discuss complex cases. This includes patients with multiple primary cancer sites and marginal (limited) pulmonary function.
• Patients with early stage lung cancers have access to the region's top physicians to treat their type of lung cancer. These newer lung cancer treatments include short course stereotactic radiotherapy.

New Lung Cancer Treatment Options

• Patients with limited lung function may have more treatment options at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia—even if told elsewhere they have inoperable lung cancer. Our lung cancer specialists and pulmonologists may be able to "fine-tune" a patient's pulmonary function prepare patients for surgery. Expert doctors provide induction therapy, which helps shrink the tumor (using chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy) so that the patient may have surgery to remove the tumor.
• Surgeons can avoid open lung surgery by using video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) techniques. VATS can be used for all types of lung surgery because it reduces post-operative pain, provides a faster recovery and shortens your hospital stay.
• Robotic-assisted thoracic surgery is now available at Fox Chase using the da Vinci® system. Robotic surgery offers surgeons improved visualization, dexterity, precision and control in smaller spaces than traditional surgery. Using the da Vinci system, surgeons operate tiny robotic instruments from a console that projects a magnified 3-D image of the surgical field. Performing da Vinci surgery usually requires only three to four small incisions, each less than an inch in size. The smaller incisions, advanced optics and superior instrumentation can mean less blood loss and a more precise surgery.
  
• New lung cancer treatment techniques available at Fox Chase include radiofrequency ablation, stereotactic radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy, laser photoradiation therapy, brachytherapy and airway stenting. These treatments are not available at other cancer centers in the region.

Unique Radiation Therapy Treatments

• Trilogy Stereotactic System is the world's premier image-guided system that can deliver all forms of radiation.
• Endobronchial brachytherapy is used to treat selected patients with lung cancer located near the bronchial tubes. It aims a high dose of radiation for a short amount of time.
• Respiratory gated radiation for select patients is a specialized treatment planning method to account for lung motion during normal respiration (breathing).
• Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is available for patients with locally advanced lung cancer requiring special considerations to cover all of their disease. IMRT precisely targets the tumor with high doses of radiation therapy. With it, doctors can minimize complications by sparing healthy nearby tissue. The precisely shaped beams deliver radiation from many angles and directions. Due to pre-treatment planning using PET/CT scans, treatment is more accurate than with traditional radiation therapy.