Information on Lung Cancer from the National Library of Medicine
Lung cancer is cancer that begins in the lungs, the two organs found in the chest that help you breathe. Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for both men and women. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. Lung cancer is more common in older adults. It is rare in people under age 45. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Early lung cancer may not cause any symptoms. Many times, lung cancer is found when an x-ray is done for another reason.
Read more at the National Library of Medicine.
Information on Lung Cancer from the American Society of Clinical Oncology
In 2009, an estimated 219,440 adults (116,090 men and 103,350 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with lung cancer. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths for men and women. Although cigarette smoking is the main cause, anyone can develop lung cancer. Lung cancer is always treatable, no matter the size, location, or if the cancer has spread. There are two major types of lung cancer: non-small cell and small cell. Lung cancer begins when cells in the lung grow out of control and form a lump. Read more at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Information on Lung Cancer at Mayo Clinic
Information on Lung Cancer from MayoClinic.com.
Lung Cancer: Non-Small Cell
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. It usually grows and spreads more slowly than small cell lung cancer. Smoking causes most cases of lung cancer. Early lung cancer may not cause any symptoms. Symptoms you should watch for include: cough that doesn't go away, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, loss of appetite. losing weight without trying, and fatigue. There are many different types of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Treatment depends upon the stage of the cancer. The outlook varies widely. Most often, NSCLC develops slowly and causes few or no symptoms until very late stages. However, in some cases, it can be extremely aggressive and cause rapid death. Read more at the National Library of Medicine.
Lung Cancer: Small Cell
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a fast-growing type of lung cancer. It spreads much more quickly than non-small cell lung cancer. About 15% of all lung cancer cases are small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer is slightly more common in men than women.
Almost all cases of SCLC are due to cigarette smoking. SCLC is rare in those who have never smoked. Because SCLC spreads quickly throughout the body, treatment must include cancer-killing drugs (chemotherapy) taken by mouth or injected into the body. How well you do depends on how much the lung cancer has spread. This type of cancer is very deadly. Only about 6% of people with this type of cancer are still alive 5 years after diagnosis. Read more at the National Library of Medicine.
Quiz: Take the Lung Cancer Quiz
Get the facts on Lung Cancer. Reduce your risk starting in just 20 minutes after taking the quiz at the Carle Foundation Hospital website.
Profiler Option Tool for Lung Cancer
This tool will help you understand your treatment options and possible side effects. You will receive a personal treatment options report tailored to your diagnosis. Your report will provide the pros and cons of each treatment and possible side effects, along with questions to ask your doctor, plus access to reports based on medical research papers. Interactive tool available at the American Lung Society.
What's New in Small Cell Lung Cancer Research and Treatment?
Lung cancer is currently being researched in medical centers throughout the world. Progress in prevention, early detection, and treatment based on current research is expected to save many thousands of lives each year. Read more at the American Cancer Society.
Video: If I Had A Nodule Noted in a Chest XRay
At the recent American Thoracic Society conference in Toronto, we caught up with Dr. Charles Powell, MD, an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center, and the Medical Director of their Lung Assessment Program, which specializes in the evaluation and management of patients with suspected lung cancer. View the video at the National Library of Medicine.
Podcast: Living with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
This program will discuss those challenges and focus on choosing the best treatment regimen, decreasing treatment-related side effects, and selecting palliative therapies for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Listen to the podcast at Discovery Health.
Diagnostic surgical pathology in lung cancer
When pathologically diagnosing patients with lung cancer, the reporting of histologic type, tumor size and location, tumor grade (if appropriate), lymphovascular invasion, involvement of pleura, surgical margins, and status and location of lymph nodes by station is recommended. View the major recommendations at the National Guideline Clearinghouse.
Cancer Care Ontario and American Society of Clinical Oncology adjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant radiation therapy for stages I-IIIA resectable non-small-cell lung cancer guideline.
Summary of Recommendations for Adjuvant Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy
for Stages I-IIIA Resectable Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer . View the major recommendations at the National Guideline Clearinghouse.
Full Text: Lung Cancer Occurrence in Never-Smokers: An Analysis of 13 Cohorts and 22 Cancer Registry Studies
Better information on lung cancer occurrence in lifelong nonsmokers is needed to understand gender and racial disparities and to examine how factors other than active smoking influence risk in different time periods and geographic regions. Free full text available at Pubmed.
Full Text: A Gene Expression Signature Predicts Survival of Patients with Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Nearly 50% of patients with stages I and II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will die from recurrent disease despite surgical resection. No reliable clinical or molecular predictors are currently available for identifying those at high risk for developing recurrent disease. As a consequence, it is not possible to select those high-risk patients for more aggressive therapies and assign less aggressive treatments to patients at low risk for recurrence. Free full text available at Pubmed.
Full Text: Noninvasive detection of lung cancer by analysis of exhaled breath
Exhaled breath analysis is promising to become a future non-invasive lung cancer screening method. Free full text available at Pubmed.
Full Text: Pathogenesis of lung cancer signaling pathways: roadmap for therapies
Significant advances in lung cancer biology may lead to customised therapy based on targeting specific genes and pathways. Epigenetic changes in lung cancer contribute strongly to cell transformation by modifying chromatin structures and the specific expression of genes. The genetic and epigenetic pathways involved in lung tumorigenesis differ between smokers and nonsmokers, and are tools for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, clinical follow-up and targeted therapies. Free full text available at Pubmed.
Abstract: Lung cancer: a biologically different disease in women?
Mounting evidence suggests that there are significant differences in lung cancer between the sexes. Although the magnitude of the effect of smoking on the development of lung cancer may not be different, smoking appears to have an impact on the histology of lung cancer. Hormonal and biologic effects may play a role in lung cancer carcinogenesis, and may impact treatment response. A more thorough understanding of the biologically different aspects of lung cancer across different populations may lead to innovations in prevention and treatment. View the abstract at Pubmed.
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Source: NIH
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We've got 30 million answers to that question. That's how many hospital records Consumers' CHECKBOOK sifted through to calculate risk-adjusted death rates and adverse-outcome rates, and that's just part of the data used to rate the hospitals. The organization also sent out more than 280,000 questionnaires to physicians in 53 major metropolitan areas in the United States, asking them to rate their local hospitals; checked ratings of the hospitals by surveyed consumers; checked which hospitals were providing recommended tests and procedures for patients with specified medical problems; and more."
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US Distribution of Lung Cancer
Source: CDC
