Thursday January 26, 2012
Many of you know of someone who developed lung cancer even though they never smoked. Likewise, many of us know of someone who had lung cancer even though they smoked much less than others who didn't develop the disease.
Why?
One of the reasons is radon.
You don't have to be a miner to be exposed to radon. In fact, the second leading cause of lung cancer - and the leading cause in non-smokers - is exposure to radon in the comfort of our own homes.
And we are all at risk.
Radon doesn't discriminate based on the value or age of your home. Radon gas comes from the normal decay of uranium beneath our homes.
Radon doesn't necessarily discriminate based on where you live. While some areas have higher radon levels than others, elevated radon levels have been found in homes in all 50 states.
Why do I call radon a hidden cause?
Because you can't smell it - radon is odorless. You can't see it - radon is colorless. The only way to know if you are at risk is to test your home.
And if your radon level is elevated? Radon mitigation can reduce the radon level in your home to acceptable levels almost all the time.
The holidays are long over, but during radon action month you can give yourself and your family a gift by making sure your home doesn't have this hidden risk of lung cancer. Then relax by the fire or take that long winters nap...
More About Radon
Monday January 23, 2012
If you are living with lung cancer, it might seem like little progress has been made in how it is treated. But advances are being made.
CancerCare -- a not-for-profit organization that offers free professional support to anyone dealing with cancer - is offering a free workshop to talk about some of these advances. The best thing (besides being free) is that you can listen from the comfort of you own home, either on your telephone or computer.
The date: - March 16, 2012
The time: - 1:30 - 2:30 PM Eastern Time
The website to register: - Advances in the Treatment of Lung Cancer
In case you don't feel like getting out of your chair to put the date on your calendar don't worry. CancerCare will email you a reminder before the workshop occurs.
In the meantime, check out the podcasts of the many past workshops provided by cancer care. These informative talks cover topics that range from coping with the side effects and financial cost of treatment, to coping with the fear of recurrence.
Further Reading:
Photo: istockphoto.com
Sunday January 22, 2012
Surgery for early stage lung cancer offers the chance for a cure, yet removing a lobe of a lung is a very major surgery.
Because of this, newer techniques have been developed with the hope of accomplishing the same goal in a less invasive way. One of these is video-assisted thorascopic surgery (VATS).
During a traditional lobectomy to remove a cancerous lobe of the lung, surgeons make a long incision following the ribs and then separate the ribs (and may remove a portion of a rib) to gain access to the chest cavity. In a VATS lobectomy, several small incisions are made, allowing surgeons to remove a tumor through a space between the ribs aided by special instruments and a camera.
Researchers in Korea decided to evaluate the effectiveness of a VATS lobectomy by comparing the outcomes of people with stage 1 lung cancer treated with VATS versus those treated with a traditional lobectomy.
In this study there was no significant difference in 3-year overall survival or disease-free survival between the VATS group and the traditional lobectomy group. There was also no significance difference between the two groups when it came to complications after surgery. A difference that was significant was the length of hospitalization following the procedures. The average hospital stay for those who had the VATS procedure was 2 days shorter than the traditional group.
These findings are similar to those found in an earlier review of studies to date. People who were treated with a VATS lobectomy instead of a traditional lobectomy had shorter hospital stays, and in some studies, had an improved survival rate 4 years following the procedure.
That said, a VATS lobectomy may not be for everyone. There may be medical reasons your surgeon might prefer a traditional approach. In addition, newer procedures such as VATS are not available everywhere, and choosing this treatment may require traveling to a major cancer center far from home. But it is important to talk with your doctor about the option that is best for your particular circumstances.
Further Reading:
Photo: National Cancer Institute, John Crawford (photographer)
Sources:
Park, J. et al. Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) Lobectomy for Pathologic Stage 1 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Comparative Study with Thoracotomy Lobectomy. Korean Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2011. 44(1):32-8.
Whitson, B. et al. Surgery for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review of the video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery versus thoracotomy approaches to lobectomy. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2008. 86(6):2008-16.
Sunday January 22, 2012
A common theme among people I talk with who have lung cancer is how long it took to be diagnosed. Sometimes the delays I hear about are fairly short - the specialist was busy for a week and a half before they could get in. But other times the delays are months in length.
Since the survival rates for lung cancer are best in the earliest stages, this is an important issue to address.
A new study looked at the average delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer among 52 patients. In this study, patients waited on average 21 days to see a doctor, with an additional 22 days needed to complete the investigation. The median time from their first visit to seeing a specialist was 27 days.
The overall numbers were more revealing. On average, from the time people first began having symptoms to the time treatment was begun was 138 days.
An older study revealed similar findings. In that study the median time from first symptoms to the onset of treatment was almost 4 months.
As a breast cancer survivor it's hard not to wonder if this delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer might play a role in lower survival rates. As I look back at my own journey, waiting 138 days - or in the other study almost 4 months - seems totally unacceptable. Almost barbaric.
The author's conclusion to this study was that we need to raise awareness about lung cancer symptoms, and expedite the diagnosis process for people who have symptoms of lung cancer. Perhaps if we approached lung cancer (yes, that means more funding which is desperately lacking for lung cancer) as we have breast cancer with regards to symptom awareness and diagnosis, we might see a change in the saddening survival rates for those we love with lung cancer.
Further Reading:
Photo: National Cancer Institute, unknown photographer
Sources:
Ellis, P., and R. Vandermeer. Delays in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Journal of Thoracic Disease. 2011. 3(3):182-8.
Salomaa, E. et al. Delays in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. Chest. 2005. 128(4):2282-8.
