New modes of palliative therapy for patients with lung cancer--a review

Although our ability to cure nonsmall cell carcinoma of the lung has not changed appreciably over the past decade, newer modalities have provided improved palliative therapy. This article briefly reviews various forms of laser therapy and endobronchial irradiation (brachytherapy). The combination of these techniques appears to offer the promise of safely palliating patients who otherwise would rapidly succumb to local effects of their tumor.