Research: Lung cancer surgery not always needed

November 3, 2009 (WLS) -- Surgery for lung cancer may not be necessary for some patients with an early form of the disease.

New research from Georgetown University finds a special kind of radiation beam treatment called CyberKnife may be a good option.

In 24 early stage lung cancer patients the procedure was able to target and treat only the cancerous lesions on their lungs. Overall survival for these patients was 79 percent after three years. And, for those patients who had good lung function at the time of the treatment, survival rate was 100 percent.

Details of the research were presented at the CHEST 2009 Scientific Assembly in San Diego.

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