Lung Cancer

Leading expertise in lung cancer treatment

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer. While diagnosis can feel overwhelming, early-stage lung cancer is highly treatable. New options also provide hope for people with advanced disease.

At the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, our thoracic cancer team provides compassionate, expert care to more than 500 people a year. The team works with colleagues in interventional pulmonology to deliver the expertise you need for lung cancer. Together, we offer you:

• Accessible lung cancer screening for current and former tobacco smokers
• Focus on minimally invasive surgery, including robotic-assisted surgery
• The only comprehensive interventional pulmonology program in Michigan, providing bronchoscopy and other procedures that avoid incisions
• One of the country’s most active programs for lung cancer clinical trials, with success getting early immunotherapies approved
• The world’s first FDA-approved, MRI-guided radiation therapy
• Expertise with North America’s first Edge® radiosurgery unit, from a team that’s trained more than 200 doctors worldwide on this highly precise radiation therapy (ViewRay MRIdian Linac®) to track tumors in real time

Lung cancer treatment at Henry Ford Cancer Institute

Lung cancer treatment recommendations depend on the type of disease and how extensive it is. Your treatment for lung cancer may include:

• Interventional pulmonology: Our doctors use special tools to diagnose and treat lung cancer, as well as relieve problems caused by the disease. Options include bronchoscopy, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and ablation, a therapy that uses heat from radio waves.
• Thoracic surgery: Whenever possible, our team tries to remove lung cancer. Our minimally invasive surgeries shorten recovery, limit incisions and scarring, and save lung tissue. Learn more about our lung cancer surgery.
• Radiation oncology: Our doctors may recommend radiation therapy by itself or with other treatments. Our sophisticated systems give you the best chance for successful treatment.
• Medical oncology: In addition to chemotherapy, lung cancer drugs include medications that target tumor changes (targeted therapy) or harness your immune system (immunotherapy). Our Precision Medicine program uses next-generation gene sequencing to tell who may benefit from newer approaches.

Techniques to ease lung cancer symptoms

We also offer advanced therapies to help you breathe easier:

• Airway management procedures performed without incisions to remove tumors and other blockages, control bleeding, and repair airway injuries
• Airway stenting to open, or keep open, closed airways
• Light-based therapy (photodynamic therapy), which triggers a special drug to destroy cancer cells without surgery