How long treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lasts will depend on the type of treatment. For example, chemotherapy cycles can last a few weeks, while you may need to take targeted drugs more long term.

After receiving an NSCLC diagnosis, the primary focus will be treating your condition. To determine the right treatment, your doctor needs to confirm the type and stage of the cancer.

Your doctor can then provide more information about what treatments they recommend and how long they expect the treatment to last.

Read on to learn more about how long NSCLC treatment may last. This article looks at surgery, chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and more.

It may be possible to treat stage 0 NSCLC with surgery.

A few different surgical procedures treat NSCLC. The kind you have depends on the size and location of your cancer.

The surgeon may remove:

  • only part of a lobe (wedge resection)
  • an entire lobe (lobectomy)
  • the whole lung (pneumonectomy)

Expect to spend around 3 to 7 days in the hospital after open lung surgery.

Some early stage lung cancers are treatable with video-assisted thoracic surgery, which uses a camera and small incisions. The hospital stay afterward is shorter, usually around a few days.

Your doctor or surgeon can provide more accurate information about how long you should prepare to stay in the hospital after the procedure.

Chemotherapy uses strong medications to kill cancer cells throughout your body. You can receive chemo as a stand-alone treatment, or together with radiation or surgery.

Doctors prescribe chemotherapy in cycles. You’ll get the drug for 1 to 3 days and then stop for a few days to allow your body time to recover.

Each chemo cycle lasts for 3 to 4 weeks. If you have late stage cancer, you’ll receive the treatment for around 3 to 4 months.

Learn more about chemotherapy for NSCLC.

Radiation therapy uses high energy waves to kill cancer cells. It’s sometimes the main treatment for people with NSCLC who cannot have surgery.

Radiation is also given before surgery to shrink the tumor or after surgery to remove any cancer cells that were left behind.

You’ll usually get radiation treatments 5 days a week for 5 to 7 weeks. Each treatment only takes a few minutes.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) speeds up the process. Instead of small doses of radiation over several days, you get a very focused, higher dose. SBRT takes around 1 to 5 sessions.

Immunotherapy stimulates your body’s immune system to track down and destroy cancer cells.

Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which include nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda), help prevent the cancer from hiding from your immune system.

Your doctor might recommend one of these drugs if your cancer starts to grow again after you’ve had chemotherapy or other treatments. You’ll receive immunotherapy as an infusion that you get through a vein in your arm.

Immunotherapy treatment happens once every 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the specific drug. You may require the treatment for 2 years or longer.

Unlike chemo and radiation, which can’t tell the difference between cancer cells and healthy cells, targeted therapy drugs only destroy cancer cells.

These drugs work by blocking substances that help the cancer cells grow and spread.

EGFR-inhibitor drugs like erlotinib (Tarceva) and afatinib (Gilotrif) block a receptor called EGFR that’s on the surface of NSCLC cells. EGFR helps the cancer grow.

You typically take these drugs as a pill by mouth, sometimes once or twice per day. You’ll need to keep taking them long term, typically a period of months or years, to prevent the cancer from spreading again.

After your treatment ends, you’ll still need regular follow-up visits with your doctor. These checkups are done to look for signs that your NSCLC has come back.

If your cancer does return, your doctor will start you on treatment again.

Your doctor may recommend an exam, blood tests, and a chest CT scan every 3 months for the first few years after treatment. You may then only need to see your doctor every 6 months for the next 2 years, then yearly after 5 years.

After that, you’ll see your doctor once a year. However, it’s important to contact your doctor sooner if you have concerns about NSCLC returning.

Treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is based on the type of treatment. Treatment can depend on the type and stage of the cancer.

The length of treatment can be different for each person. After surgery, it’s typically necessary to stay in the hospital for up to 1 week. Radiation therapy can last up to 7 weeks, while you may require chemotherapy every few days for a number of months.

You’ll receive immunotherapy every 2 to 6 weeks for at least 2 years. You may need to take targeted drugs daily for a number of years.

As you plan your treatment with your doctor, find out what to expect. Ask how long each treatment will take and how often you’ll need to return for follow-up exams.