Lung Cancer

You can feel confident when you choose us for your lung cancer care. Our tumor board brings together lung cancer specialists in one room to pool their expertise to make the right recommendations for your care.

At Henry Ford, our lung cancer team provides compassionate, expert care to more than 500 people a year. Our experts in thoracic surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, pulmonologists and other cancer specialists strive to provide the most advanced treatments for your lung cancer.

Henry Ford Lung Cancer Program Highlights:

• Our surgeons focus on minimally invasive surgery, including robotic-assisted surgery with smaller incisions, and precise tumor removal resulting in a shorter hospital stay.
• Henry Ford has the only comprehensive interventional pulmonology program in Michigan, providing bronchoscopy and other procedures that avoid incisions.
• Henry Ford has one of the country’s most active programs for lung cancer clinical trials, with success getting early immunotherapies approved
• We offer the most advanced options in radiation therapy including the world’s first FDA-approved, MRI-guided radiation therapy and expertise with North America’s first Edge® radiosurgery unit, to track tumors in real time.

Lung cancer screening

If we detect your lung cancer early, we have a better chance of saving your life. We use advanced computed tomography (CT) scanning for those at high risk for lung cancer. This quick, painless test, available once a year for those at risk, helps us detect lung cancer before it has a chance to spread out of the lungs.

Learn more about our lung cancer screening program.

Lung cancer diagnosis

If we detect potential lung cancer, it’s important to diagnose it as early and accurately as possible. We use a wide array of advanced imaging tests to locate potential lung cancer cells. In most cases, your doctor will also order a biopsy to take a sample from the suspected cancerous tissue so we can rule in or rule out a cancer diagnosis.

Explore our diagnostic options for lung cancer.

Lung cancer treatment

You and your doctor will consider the advice of our tumor board and decide together on your personalized treatment plan for lung cancer. We offer some of the area’s leading treatment options for lung cancer, including:

• Latest medications: Chemotherapy, targeted therapies and immunotherapy all can work to destroy cancer cells, shrink them or help your immune system locate and eliminate lung cancer.
• Light-based therapy: You may be able to avoid surgery for early-stage tumors with our specialized laser.
• Precise radiation: Our doctors use sophisticated radiation systems to adjust for your lungs’ movement, concentrate your treatment and limit side effects.
• Procedures without incisions: Our bronchoscopy treatments can help relieve symptoms and give you more options for lung cancer that returns after treatment or that is complex. We offer Michigan’s only comprehensive program for these procedures.
• Minimally invasive surgeries: Our team specializes in procedures that involve less pain and faster recovery.

Discover our advanced lung cancer treatment options.

Lung cancer questions, answers and support

It’s normal to have many questions about lung cancer, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. Your dedicated nurse navigator is the first line of defense for all your questions, serving as your main point of contact and guiding you throughout your journey. We’ve also compiled a list of our most frequently asked questions patients ask us about lung cancer, as well as the answers to those questions.

Our care and support don’t stop when your treatment is over. We offer many options for survivorship — the period of your life after lung cancer treatment. We’ll also help steer you toward resources in the community and nationally. Learn more about our lung cancer support.

Our lung cancer patient stories

It may feel overwhelming when you or a loved one has lung cancer, but others have been where you are and know what you’re going through. Learn from some of our past patients, who share their stories of hope and healing after lung cancer. We hope they can serve as a source of strength during your own journey with lung cancer.

Explore our patient stories.