Whatever the cause – radon? cigarettes? asbestos? pesticides? pollution? – nobody knows.

What is known is that her sister might not have died if her cancer had been detected sooner. A test exists, a simple test, that could save lives, advocates insist, and that test is not being given.

Mammograms, colonoscopies, screenings for prostate cancer – these are routine. But a simple low-cost, low-level CAT scan that detects lung cancer in its earliest stages is not.

“The main objective of this meeting is to advance the quality of lung cancer treatment and find answers to unsolved problems which can contribute substantially to the improvement of patient survival,” said Prof. Françoise Mornex, France, Scientific Co-Chair of the conference.

The test is designed to differentiate squamous from non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Once approved by the New York State Department of Health, the test will be made available nationwide through Columbia University Medical Center’s High Complexity Molecular Pathology Laboratory.

“We descended on the Capitol with the Cancer Promise in hand with the hope of securing support from our state leaders,” said Bryte Johnson, American Cancer Society Director of Government Relations. “With the early detection programs and prevention initiatives contained in the Comprehensive Cancer Plan, our state government will fulfill its fundamental responsibility to ensure that Connecticut residents have access to the quality cancer care they need and deserve.”
A bill currently under consideration by the General Assembly will provide the needed funding for the continuation of the Comprehensive Cancer Plan and programs, including tobacco cessation, breast and cervical cancer screening, and a lung cancer pilot program.

The question is: Why do some longtime smokers come down with the deadly disease whereas others escape it? New research points to a genetic culprit that also was fingered as upping a person’s likelihood of becoming hooked on cigarettes.

Two new studies link a variation in a gene residing on chromosome 15 (of a person’s 23 pairs of chromosomes) to a heightened risk of developing lung cancer; a third study suggests that the same mutation  affects a person’s tendency to become addicted to smokes and, by extension, develop the dreaded disease. Lung cancer is diagnosed in some 200,000 Americans and kills more than 150,000 each year.

Most people assumethat cancer is genetic and cannot be avoided. However, according to the
American Cancer Society, healthy behaviors could prevent approximately half of cancer deaths. Below is a list of 10 lifestyle changes, all based on the latest research, which people can make to improve their odds of preventing cancer or catching it at its earliest, most curable stages.

Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of death from cancer. It is a national health crisis; there is a gross imbalance in cancer research funding. I know that many of you have had family, friends and co-workers meet an untimely death because of this disease. This will continue to be the case if we do not speak out.

A University of Ottawa researcher is launching the largest-ever study examining environmental factors related to the rates of lung cancer deaths.Michelle Turner, a PhD candidate in the university’s Population Health program, is setting out on a three-year study looking at the role of residential radon and air pollution in the deaths of Americans over a 20-year period.

Radon is a colourless, odourless and tasteless radioactive gas. It’s emitted from the earth and usually collects in the basements and first levels of houses.

Other studies have linked radon and air pollution to lung cancer but the research has focused mostly on workers in specific, high-risk jobs, like mining.

An International group of researchers found two SNPs linked to an increased risk of lung cancer.The team collected DNA from 1,154 smokers who have lung cancer and 1,137 smokers without lung cancer. Each DNA sample was analyzed for SNPs that differed between the two groups. They then analyzed the top 10 SNPs in an additional 5,075 DNA samples from smokers with and without lung cancer.