LungBlog

New research released this week shows great promise in the early diagnosis of lung cancer — a major public health breakthrough. Lung cancer is the nation’s number-one cancer killer. Each year in the U.S., 173,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer and 160,000 will die from it.

New results from a large, observational study suggest that using spiral computed tomography (CT) to screen people at increased risk for lung cancer can detect the disease at an early stage and may increase the number of people who can be cured. Currently, the vast majority of lung cancer diagnoses aren’t made until the disease is well advanced, and most of these patients die within 5 years.

A group of MPs have joined forces with UK lung cancer experts in a bid to double the survival rate of those suffering from the disease.

Seventy percent of European patients battling lung cancer had never regarded the disease as a threat prior to learning of their condition, according to results from a new pan-European public and patient survey announced on the eve of Lung Cancer Awareness Month. This ignorance about lung cancer is also indicative of a chronic lack of awareness about the disease. For example, forty percent of the general public surveyed wrongly assume that breast cancer is the most common cancer when in fact, lung cancer is. Furthermore, not only is it the most common form of cancer, it is the single biggest cancer killer in Europe, claiming approximately 342,000 lives each year – that is, 937 deaths every day.

A U.S. study has identified three subtypes of non-small-cell lung cancer tumors — a finding that may provide information about patient survival.

Lung cancer can be detected at its very earliest stage in 85 percent of patients using annual low-dose CT screening, and, when followed by prompt surgical removal, the 10-year survival rate is 92 percent. These results, to be reported in the October 26 New England Journal of Medicine, would dramatically decrease the number of deaths from lung cancer - the number one cause of cancer deaths among both men and women in the U.S.

Screening smokers for lung cancer with sophisticated chest scans can detect cancerous tumors early and save lives, according to new research released by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kicking the habit is the number one way for anyone to prevent lung cancer. But, there are no guarantees. Just ask Cecilia Izzo, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and now has difficulty talking and walking.

Although she sometimes struggles to speak, it doesn’t stop her from speaking out about lung cancer. She’s the one who started the one-of-a-kind support group  

“I always felt I needed a lung cancer specific group because whenever anyone would hear I had lung cancer, the first thing they’d say was: ‘Were you a smoker?,’” she said.  

“So what if somebody did smoke and they quit 20 years ago ? Should they still be punished. If somebody tells me they have cervical cancer, the first thing I say to them is not ‘What sort of sexually transmitted disease do you have?’ You just don’t do that. Lung cancer seems to be fair game for people.’”

Lung cancer took the lives of a number celebrities and others too soon, well before they could speak out about their deadly disease. Meet one celebrity spokesperson who’s creating awareness.

Watch the video