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November Is Lung Cancer Awareness Month Nov 19, 2009

Preventing the Number One Cause of Lung Cancer

Click on the video link above to hear the latest on lung cancer from David Spigel, M.D., director of lung cancer research for the Sarah Cannon Research Institute.  Lung cancer is a cancer that forms in tissues of the lung, usually in the cells lining air passages. The two main types are small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. With an estimated 219,440 new cases of lung cancer expected in the United States in 2009 alone, lung cancer prevention and awareness are imperative health initiatives. 

Risk factors for lung cancer:

• Tobacco smoke: Tobacco smoke (from cigarettes, pipes, and cigars), as well as secondhand smoke nonsmokers are exposed to, causes most lung cancer cases and is the most important risk factor for lung cancer.
• Radon: Radon is a radioactive gas that forms in soil and rocks and that you cannot see, smell, or taste. Found in mines and in some houses across the country, radon damages lung cells.  Those who smoke have an even higher risk of lung cancer if they are exposed to radon.  
• Years of exposure to asbestos and other substances found in construction and chemical industries like arsenic, chromium, nickel, soot, tar and other substances:  These substances can increase the risk of lung cancer.  Just like with radon, the risk of lung cancer from these substances is even higher for smokers.
  
  
• Air pollution: Air pollution may slightly increase the risk of lung cancer. The risk from air pollution is higher for smokers.
  
  
• Family history of lung cancer: People with a father, mother, brother, or sister who had lung cancer may be at slightly increased risk of the disease, even if they don't smoke.
  
  
• Personal history of lung cancer: People who have had lung cancer are at increased risk of developing a second lung tumor.
  
  
• Age over 65: Most people are older than 65 years when diagnosed with lung cancer.

Researchers are currently studying whether having certain lung diseases (such as tuberculosis or bronchitis) for many years may increase the risk of lung cancer.

If you think you may be at risk for developing lung cancer, you should talk to your doctor so that he or she may suggest ways to reduce your risk and plan an appropriate schedule for your checkups.

Common symptoms for lung cancer include the following:

• a cough that gets worse or does not go away
• breathing trouble, such as shortness of breath
• constant chest pain
• coughing up blood
• a hoarse voice
• frequent lung infections or pneumonia
• feeling very tired all the time
• weight loss with no known cause

Lung Cancer Awareness Transcript:

I'm David Spigel, and I'm a medical oncologist in Nashville, TN.  I work at TN Oncology and direct the Lung Cancer Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute here in Nashville.

Lung cancer is a common problem in the United States and worldwide.  What many people don't appreciate is that lung cancer is the most common cause of death due to cancer.  So we're all very familiar with other cancers that are common such as prostate cancer or breast cancer, but if you look at who actually dies from cancer, lung cancer exceeds the amount of patients who die from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.  Lung cancer deaths accounts for approximately 175,000 people each year.

Smoking is w/o question responsible for over 85% of the reasons that patients develp lung cancer.  Smoking is also present not only in a primary form, but in a secondary form.  Patients may not have had any history of themselves smoking, but they have a strong family history of parents who smoke or siblings who smoke and they have been exposed to smoking for a number of years and that can also account for why people develop lung cancer and maybe do not have a history of smoking themselves.

Smoking accounts for 85% of the causes of lung cancer but there are other causes too - these are what I call "rare causes," but these include things like asbestos, other occupational exposures, I think radon makes the news a lot perhaps a little bit overblown in terms of true risk and prevalence in problem, but it is a rare risk with lung cancer.

Unfortunately lung cancer, the cancer itself tends to be an aggressive type of malignancy that even surgery may not be curable for patients.  And that's why we have been trying to discover and find better therapies for patients and so now in addition to surgery, we talk about things such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

We now live in an environment where clinical studies or new therapies are widely available not only where I work, but across the United States and in many parts of the world.  Research is available not only at major medical centers but often at your community oncologist office who has access to some of these new therapies, maybe through an agreement with a nearby medical center or through a research network that is being run throughout the country or maybe throughout the world.

I think we as a community whether you are a patient, family or friend or healthcare provider have to work hard at overcoming this stigma or this burden that is associated with lung cancer.  It is a very common problem, it will be the second most common cancer that is seen in men, it is the second most common cancer that is seen in women but it is the number one reason that folks will die of cancer - both men and women and worldwide.  Lung cancer is a tremendous problem - and one of worst things I think that can happen in addition to a diagnosis is to feel guilty, bad or burdened by a diagnosis.

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