Annual Lung Cancer Screenings Can Save Lives(Photo: LUNG FORCE Initiative of the American Lung Association)

As the pink color – synonymous with the month of October breast cancer awareness – fades, the coldest and darkest November has become the symbol of the month of November. a more deadly opponent: a cancer that kills more women each year than even breast cancer. It is a cancer that kills more than three times as many men as prostate cancer. In fact, this cancer kills more Americans every year than breast, prostate, colon, bladder and uterine cancers combined.

This killer is a lung cancer.

In the United States, about 154,050 people will die from lung cancer in 2018, according to the Bonnie J. Addario Foundation for Lung Cancer. And if tobacco is the main risk factor for lung cancer, exposure to radon – a naturally occurring radioactive gas in the soil at home – asbestos and secondhand smoke. In fact, about 10 to 15% of lung cancers affect people who have never touched a cigarette. In fact, if you consider lung cancer among non-smokers as a separate cancer, it would be the sixth most deadly cancer.

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Lung cancer is misclassified against a common cancer endpoint, called the 5-year survival rate, with a survival rate of 18%, compared to 89% for breast cancer and 98% for cancer. prostate.

So, what makes lung cancer far more lethal than other cancers? One of the factors is that more than two thirds of lung cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage, where the cancer has spread and is more difficult to treat. In addition, symptoms (persistent cough and recurrent respiratory infections, for example) do not usually appear before cancer metastasis (spread to other parts of the body).

There is good news, however. If lung cancer is detected at an early stage of screening, the 5-year survival rate improves to 90% and the chances of recovery are significantly improved.

There is a rapid, non-invasive and safe test for lung cancer called low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). Current smokers or former smokers who have quit smoking in the last 15 years – aged 55 to 74 years and with at least 30 years of smoking experience – should be the object of smoking. screening. The American Cancer Society recommends physicians with access to a high-volume, high-quality lung cancer screening program, such as that of Jefferson Health in New Jersey.

Many lung cancer patients talk about the stigma and lack of compassion they face; Sometimes patients are told that they should have stopped smoking or never started smoking. In fact, many cases of lung cancer occur in people who have stopped smoking decades ago, not to mention non-smokers who contract the disease.

We have all seen the significant positive impact of increased awareness and widespread screening in the fight against breast cancer.

In November, spread the message about lung cancer and ask your doctor if you or a loved one should be screened. Nobody deserves lung cancer.

Dr. Duane Monteith is a cardiothoracic surgeon with Jefferson Health at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Washington Township. For more information, call 856-218-5324.

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