The Whittingham Cancer Center at Norwalk Hospital is pleased to usher in National Lung Cancer Month by being the first in the world to activate an important new study for patients affected by the disease.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Most patients with lung cancer are diagnosed when the disease has spread to other regions of the body, such as the bones, liver and brain, said Dr. Richard Frank, director of cancer research at Norwalk Hospital. This stage of the disease is referred to as “advanced” or “metastatic” lung cancer and is not curable by currently available methods of treatment, he explained.

Fibrotic scars are frequently found in proximity to lung cancer at the time of cancer diagnosis. However, the nature of the relationship between pulmonary scarring and lung cancer remains uncertain

A group of researchers from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency (WHO) for Research on Cancer has identified two genes that reportedly increase an individual’s chances of developing certain forms of lung cancer by as much as 60%, according to a study published in Nature Genetics journal. 

According to Paul Brennan, a cancer epidemiologist with WHO, certain types of DNA make a person more or less likely to develop certain types of cancer. 

It’s astonishing: New data on the ability of cruciferous vegetables to halt cancer, even in smokers! Eating just 4.5 servings of raw cruciferous vegetables a month (barely over one serving a week) showed a whopping 22% – 50% decline in lung cancer among smokers.

Lung cancer kills more than four times as many Americans as breast cancer. But while pink ribbons trumpet Breast Cancer Awareness Month throughout October, little attention is paid to lung cancer in November, which is that disease’s awareness month.”My wish is the world would stand up and say we’ve done so well with breast cancer, let’s now do the same for lung cancer,” says Douglas Arenberg, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine and a lung cancer specialist at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Once people are aware of the facts, they start scratching their heads and thinking we need to do something about this,” Arenberg says.

The facts are these:
- Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in both men and women.
- Five-year survival rates have hovered around 15 percent for the last 20 years, with little improvement.
- Federal funding alone favors breast cancer over lung cancer 10:1.
- $11,000 in breast cancer research is funded for every one person who dies of breast cancer. For lung cancer, it’s closer to $1,000 per person.

Gefitinib, also known as Iressa, the once-promising targeted therapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, has proven as effective as chemotherapy as a second-line therapy for the disease with far fewer side effects, according to an international Phase III clinical trial, led by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

However, in contrast to earlier Iressa findings, the study showed that there was no additional survival benefit for patients who expressed an elevated level of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation.

The Iressa in Non-small cell lung cancer Trial Evaluating REsponse and Survival versus Taxotere (INTERST) study, published today in The Lancet, represents a paradigm shift for the treatment of the disease, according to lead author Edward S. Kim, M.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology. It marks the first time in lung cancer that an oral pill has proven as effective as chemotherapy in a head-to-head trial.

Which cancer kills more Americans than any other? The answer is lung cancer, and if you’re surprised you’re in good company. 

NewsCenter 5′s Heather Unruh profiled a local woman in the hopes of shinning a light on the growing epidemic.

If you’re a smoker, the best way to cut your risk of lung cancer is to quit smoking.

But a new study shows eating certain “supercharged” veggies can help smokers and non-smokers alike lower the risk of lung cancer, too.

Researchers say vegetables, like broccoli, kale and cauliflower have unique cancer fighting properties.

Their study showed that smokers who regularly ate those vegetables had a lower risk of lung cancer.

Some advanced lung cancer patients already treated with chemotherapy might be able to skip some of the bad side effects of another series of chemo by taking a pill instead, a study suggests. An international study showed patients on Iressa, an expensive, newer targeted treatment, survived about as long as those on another course of chemotherapy.

The cancer-fighting pill Iressa works as well as chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for lung cancer, researchers report.

Although neither therapy prolongs survival beyond eight months, Iressa (gefitinib) causes fewer serious side effects and may be a better choice for patients who did not do well on their first round of chemotherapy.