LungBlog

One of the more inspiring parts of the ING Miami Marathon on Sunday came five hours after the start, when 4,000 middle-school children ran the final mile as part of the ING Run for Something Better program.

… It was an emotional race for Cydney Greech, 43, and her husband, Ron, of Colorado Springs, Colo. Cydney raised $1,000 for cancer awareness and ran the marathon, her first, as a tribute to her mother, who is dying of lung cancer.

An outpouring of international aid and support has benefited Haiti. But recovering from the quake will be a long, complex process that will likely include cleaning up environmental hazards like asbestos. While no chemical or petroleum spills have yet been reported, it is thought that many buildings that toppled or were damaged during the recent quake contained asbestos.

Exposure to airborne asbestos fibers that may have been released during the quake could be lethal. Asbestos exposure is linked to the development of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer for which there is no known cure. The disease typically lies dormant for up to fifty years before an individual begins to suffer from mesothelioma symptoms.

When Dave Evers, 74, was diagnosed with lung cancer in November, he considered his treatment options.

Diminished lung capacity meant surgery wasn’t viable, and the Rock Hill man says traditional radiation treatments would have been difficult to bear.

But a new option offered at Rock Hill Radiation Therapy Center not only can cut down significantly on the number of treatment visits but also should improve Evers’ long-term prognosis.

Over the past few months, several studies have identified ground-breaking new ways of testing for early stage lung cancer. Additionally, scientists have recently developed numerous promising treatment options for the life-threatening disease.

Lung cancer is a characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in the tissues of the organ. It is one of the most common cancers in the world, and is currently the leading cause of cancer related death in the U.S. among men and women alike.

Britain’s healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog said it needed more data before deciding whether AstraZeneca Plc’s cancer drug Iressa can be offered on the state-run National Health Service.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said on Friday it wanted more information about Iressa’s effectiveness in increasing the time certain lung cancer patients survive without their disease worsening, and in increasing overall survival.

Kent Hospital has created a lung cancer early-detection program that aims to identify people at high risk for the disease, detect early-stage cancers and try to cure them before it’s too late.

“The ultimate goal with the program is to find potential cases of lung cancer at the earliest stage possible when treatment can be most successful, and help save lives,” said Dr. Michael Dacey, Kent senior vice president and chief medical officer.

Kent Hospital has created a lung cancer early-detection program that aims to identify people at high risk for the disease, detect early-stage cancers and try to cure them before it’s too late.

“The ultimate goal with the program is to find potential cases of lung cancer at the earliest stage possible when treatment can be most successful, and help save lives,” said Dr. Michael Dacey, Kent senior vice president and chief medical officer.

Odor of body fluids can make it possible for the scientists to track lung cancer at its initial stage, suggests a new study.

The findings of the study conducted on mice could assist in revealing early stage lung cancer in humans.

The lead study author Gary K. Beauchamp, a biologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center said, “This work already proves, at least in principle, that tumors — in this case lung cancer tumors in mice — result in a change in odors that ought to be useful for diagnostic purposes.”

… I totally agreed with Dr. Agnew that the leading cancer killer (lung) should receive the most research money. As he says, it has received almost the least. I think this is wrong. The American Lung Association (ALA) used to worry about asthma and COPD, but now realizes that lung cancer is their biggest problem. The ALA will tell you that for every $15,000 of research funding that breast cancer gets, lung gets $1,500. It has no support groups because most patients are dead within six months after diagnosis. I tried to get the AACR and ALA to collaborate on lung cancer. ALA is a better fundraiser, but the AACR knows much more about biochemistry, and genetics of cancer.

Body fluid odors can be used to identify animals with lung cancer tumors, setting the stage for studies to identify potential diagnostic biomarkers in the urine of human lung cancer patients.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, responsible for 1.3 million deaths annually. Effective techniques for early diagnosis are urgently needed, as the disease often has no early symptoms.