Roughly 700,000 Americans die every year from lung cancer. If you just discovered that you have lung cancer, there are different alternatives in which you can choose from. Your doctor should be able to tell you which treatment is best for the stage that you’re in. Located below are a few options the patient can choose to receive treatment for lung cancer.
Surgery
Most patients tend to request to get surgery to remove the cancer cells from the lungs. Before one could start the surgery, your oncologist would have review your tests to make sure that you’re still in the stage of cancer and that it hadn’t advanced. The costs for the surgery depends on your location; however, you can look at anywhere between $12,000 – $100,000 depending on how factors such as how far the cancer had spread, and what all has to be removed.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is another common lung cancer treatment used among patients. It uses X-rays to kill off the cancer cells and to also shrink the tumors. This is a great option for people who can’t have the surgery but who also want to have some form of treatment to kill the local cancer cells. If you choose radiation therapy, keep in mind you would have to be given this treatment everyday for five days. The costs in getting radiation therapy can be $1,600 for a single treatment to $16,000 for four sessions.
Chemotherapy
Oklahoma City lung cancer treatment with chemotherapy rapidly kills the cancerous cells. One may have to do multiple sessions of chemo to get rid of all the cancerous cells; however, it is the most efficient form of treatment. Chemotherapy usually kills cancer cells that are anywhere within the body while radiation therapy and surgery are just targeted to a particular region where the cancer may have spread. Price range for chemotherapy can range from $100 – $30,000 for eight week sessions on average. The treatment medication that you would need could cost, on average, $300.
Most insurance companies will pay for your treatments whether you choose surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. You would need to discuss with the insurance company on how much they would pay (if it’s not the full amount) and also for how many sessions they would pay if you decide on chemotherapy.
