Is Lung Cancer Curable? Treatment Options and Survival Rate

Medically reviewed by Gagandeep Brar, MD

Lung cancer can be curable in some cases, especially with early diagnosis and treatment. If the disease is caught early, the cure rate is between 80% and 90%. That rate drops when tumors are advanced and cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Cancer cures are often talked about in terms of remission. Cancer remission depends on how early the disease is found and a person’s overall health. There is a chance that lung cancer can come back (recur) even after it has been in remission for years or decades.

Many healthcare providers will say that lung cancer is never truly cured. However, the longer that someone lives with no evidence of cancer (NED), the less likely it is that the cancer will come back. While improvements in lung cancer treatment have helped more people survive, it still has a high mortality rate.

This article will cover whether lung cancer can be cured, including treatment that can help people with lung cancer live longer.

What Does Being “Cured” From Lung Cancer Mean?

While long-term remission is possible, providers are hesitant to say that someone is ever truly “cured” of lung cancer.  Few cancers can be really “cured." One of the only truly curable cancers is a certain type of blood-related cancer (leukemia).

Even if lung cancer treatment is successful and there are no signs of cancer, there is still a risk of dying from lung cancer for up to 15 years after being cancer-free. Lung cancer that has been in remission can also come back. Lung cancer recurrence is more likely in people with lung adenocarcinoma than squamous cell lung cancer. It’s also more likely if cancer has spread to lymph nodes or if surgery was not performed (such as with inoperable tumors 410).

It's not known how cancer can hide for years or even decades and then come back. One theory is that there is a hierarchy of cancer cells, where some of the cells (cancer stem cells) are more resistant to treatment and therefore have the ability to stay inactive in the body (dormant).

A "Never-Cured" Exception

There may be an exception to the “never-cured” rule. For people with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), surgery offers the best chance for long-term survival. After surgery, if there's no evidence of cancer after five years, providers do sometimes use the word "cured" to describe the person’s health.

Impact of Treatment

While lung cancer is not necessarily curable, it’s often treatable. Your quality of life will likely be better, too, since newer lung cancer treatments have fewer side effects than the older types did.

Related: Why Does Cancer Come Back?

What Are the Treatment Options for Lung Cancer?

There are different treatments for lung cancer, and researchers are working on finding more and better treatments. Treatment may help some people with lung cancer live longer.

Surgery

Surgery is generally done if people have NSCLC that's still in an earlier stage (e.g., stage 1, stage 2, or stage 3A). Some studies have suggested that early-stage lung cancer might be treatable with surgery that removes part or all of the affected lobe of the lung.

For example, a 2023 clinical trial found that after five years:

• Sixty-four percent of early-stage lung cancer patients who had lung-sparing surgery (only part of the lobe removed) survived and their cancer had not come back.

• Sixty-four percent of those who had lobectomy (all of the lobe removed) had survived and not had their cancer come back.

• For both groups, the five-year overall survival was 80.3% and 78.9%, respectively.

Researchers are also looking at how different factors in a person's life during their recovery could affect survival rates after surgery. For example, a 2023 study found that exposure to wildfire smoke in the first year after lung cancer surgery was linked to worse outcomes—including a higher risk of dying.

Some patients with lung cancer may need different kinds of surgery that have different outcomes in terms of survival.

For example, with stage 2B and stage 3, surgery might be done to partially or completely remove (dissect) lymph nodes that tumors have spread to. Studies have shown that the five-year survival rate is about 74% for people who had lymph node dissections versus 63% for people who had samples taken of individual nodes for testing, but who did not have entire nodes removed.

Even though surgery can be beneficial, it does come with risks. Any surgery can carry the risk of infection, bleeding, and complications. Your provider will talk to you about the risks and benefits of surgery for lung cancer and help you make the decision that's right for you.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses a combination of drugs to kill cancer cells. For lung cancer, the medication is usually given intravenously (IV). Chemotherapy can cause a range of side effects, from nausea and vomiting to mouth sores and hair loss. Being on chemo can also make your immune system weak and increase your risk for infections.

Takeaway

Chemotherapy before or after surgery may not be recommended for people who have other health conditions.

These drugs are not generally used with the intent of curing lung cancer. Instead, there are three reasons chemotherapy is recommended as a lung cancer treatment:

• Neoadjuvant therapy: In cases where tumors are large or cancer has spread beyond the lungs, providers may give medication before surgery to shrink the cancer. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can have downsides, especially if the drugs cause side effects that delay surgery.

• Adjuvant therapy: With adjuvant chemotherapy, medication is given after surgery to kill any undetected cancer cells (micrometastases) that may have spread to other parts of the body. Adjuvant therapy may offer a higher chance of long-term remission. A study of people who had one lung removed (pneumonectomy) because they had stage 3 NSCLC showed that adjuvant therapy after surgery was linked to a higher five-year survival rate compared to people who had neoadjuvant therapy or people who had undergone surgery with no chemo.

• Palliative therapy: Another goal of chemotherapy for lung cancer is palliative. This kind of treatment is given to extend life and reduce pain, discomfort, and other symptoms, but it's not meant to cure the disease.

When talking about chemotherapy options with your provider, it's important to understand the role chemo can play in supporting surgery or easing pain and symptoms caused by cancer. It can be beneficial even if the treatments don't cure you.

Share your goals with your healthcare provider. For example, if you have aggressive lung cancer but are still hoping for a cure over the comfort of palliative care, you may want to consider a clinical trial or an option such as immunotherapy instead of chemo.

Related: Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer

Radiation

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), known popularly as "cyber knife" procedures, can be as effective as surgery for some people with early-stage lung cancer that cannot be treated with surgery. In a small study of patients who survived five years following SBRT, 25% of them remained cancer-free longer than the typical rate of recurrence.

Radiation therapy comes with side effects and risks, many of which are similar to chemo. You may have skin changes, fatigue, nausea, and hair loss from radiation.

Like chemotherapy, traditional radiation therapy is often used as an adjunct therapy to support surgery. It can also be recommended to reduce the chance of recurrence, extend life, or decrease the symptoms of lung cancer such as bone pain or airway obstruction.

Use of Targeted Therapies

Newer targeted therapies for NSCLC use drugs to fight specific types of cancer cells. The treatments are most often used to ease symptoms and stop tumors from spreading in advanced lung cancers. They can be used along with chemo or by themselves. The side effects of targeted therapies depend on the drug being used but can range from poor wound healing and bleeding problems to high blood pressure and serious brain disorders.

Approved targeted therapies include:

• Angiogenesis inhibitors: These drugs target new blood vessel growth around the tumors so the cancer can't grow or spread.

• Drugs that target gene changes: Using gene mutation testing, your provider can determine whether the tumors will respond to medications that target cells with EGFR, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, MET, NTRK, or KRAS gene changes. These drugs will halt growth, shrink tumors, or inhibit cancer in other ways.

Resistance to targeted therapies almost always develops in time, although newer options appear to work for a longer time. If resistance does happen, there are now alternative treatments available for some gene mutations.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy may bring long-term disease-free survival for some people with advanced lung cancer. These medications help your immune system fight cancer. They are an effective way to treat NSCLC that is not responding to chemo or other treatments.

Opdivo (nivolumab) and Keytruda (pembrolizumab) are well-known drugs that are approved for the treatment of lung cancer, and newer medications are being approved as well.

Combinations of immunotherapy drugs are being tested in clinical trials, and some early results have been encouraging. However, the side effects of immunotherapy can be serious since the drugs affect your immune system. You may have general flu-like symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headache) while you’re having treatment. Being on these drugs also means that you’re more likely to get sick from infections, which can be serious.

Takeaway

Positive outcomes with immunotherapy drugs have led to hopes of the possibility of long-term survival—and even true cures—for some cancers.

Treatment of Metastases​

Though rare, long-term survival is sometimes possible even if lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body. There are reports of more than a dozen people who have lived 10 years or more after brain metastases from lung cancer have been treated.

Research has also suggested that treating metastases at multiple sites with stereotactic body radiotherapy could be a way of improving long-term survival for some people with stage 4 lung cancer in the future.

Currently, treatments for bone metastases, adrenal gland metastases, brain metastases, and liver metastases focus on systemic therapy, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapies.

How Do I Choose Which Treatment Is Right For Me?

You and your providers will talk about the different lung cancer treatments and decide which one is right for you. Here are some questions you can ask them during this important conversation:

• What will the treatment be like?

• How long will I need treatment?

• What are the side effects and risks?

• How will we know if it’s working?

• What are the chances it will not work?

• How will the treatment affect my survival odds?

Related: Understanding Advanced Lung Cancer

Natural Treatments

You might read about "natural cures" for cancer on the Internet, but research studies have not shown survival benefits for any of these approaches.

Some alternative treatments do not mix with chemotherapy or other medications used to treat cancer. Using alternative treatments could mean you put off starting proven treatments, which could shorten your life expectancy.

Some alternative treatments—such as acupuncture or ginger for chemotherapy-induced nausea—may help some people cope with the symptoms of traditional medical treatment for cancer. However, studies have not consistently shown that these remedies make much difference for people who are receiving chemo.

If you want to use any natural treatments along with your conventional therapies, you should work with an integrative medicine professional and talk to your cancer care team about whether these alternatives are safe. 

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are underway for a range of lung cancer treatments, such as new targeted therapies. Consider talking to your provider about whether taking part in a clinical trial might be an option for you.

Sometimes, if you have tried other treatments and they have not helped, joining a clinical trial can be a way to try a new treatment. While there’s no guarantee it will help and it comes with risks, being part of a clinical trial is a way to access more treatment options when you’ve tried what is currently available.

What’s the Survival Rate for Those With Lung Cancer?

Survival odds are different for every patient with lung cancer, but there are some general statistics that researchers have collected on survival rates. According to the American Cancer Society, these are the five-year survival rates for lung cancer at different stages:

Summary

Coping with the uncertainty of cancer is one of the most difficult aspects of the disease. Knowing that your lung cancer may never be considered really cured can hit hard, especially when you’ve been working hard to reach remission.

While you may not be able to stop lung cancer from progressing or coming back, you can take steps to improve the quality of your life and be an active participant in your treatment plan along with your care team.

It’s also important to reach out to others for support. Getting involved in the lung cancer community can help people cope with "scanxiety" and the fear of cancer recurrence.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common lung cancer treatment?

The first line of treatment varies based on the type of lung cancer. Surgery is most commonly used for non-small cell lung cancers. Chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy are first used for small cell lung cancer.

Is lung cancer a quickly growing cancer?

The speed of cancer growth varies by the type of the lung cancer tumor. Small cell lung cancer is considered a fast-growing cancer type. Non-small cell lung cancer is more common and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer.

How can lung cancer be diagnosed early?

Lung cancer is usually diagnosed at more advanced stages of the disease, but screenings can find it earlier for certain high-risk groups. Lung cancer screening is recommended for those who are 50 to 80 years old, currently smoke or have quit within the past 15 years, and have a 20-pack-year smoking history.

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