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| "Lung
Cancer Seems To Be The Least Talked About Cancer
And Yet It’s One Of The More Deadly Cancers."
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- During
2007, it is estimated that there will be 213,880 new cases
of lung cancer (114,760 among men and 98,620 among women).
Lung cancer will account for about 15% of all new cancer
diagnoses. (Source:
American Cancer Society)
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- Lung
Cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the U.S.
(Source: Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center)
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- Lung
cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and
women. It is estimated that there will be 160,390 deaths from
lung cancer in 2007 (89,510 among men and 70,880 among women),
accounting for about 29% of all cancer deaths. More people die of
lung cancer than of colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers
combined.
In Women,
lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cancer
killer since 1987.
(Source: American Cancer Society)
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- Approximately
90% of all lung cancers occur among smokers and approximately
10% occur among non-smokers (MLF Note: Some recent
research indicates that approximately 8% of men and 20% of
women diagnosed with lung cancer were never-smokers--see
High Rates of Lung Cancer Found for Female Non-smokers).
Passive smoking contributes to the development of lung cancer
among non-smokers and certain occupational exposures such as
asbestos exposure are also known to cause lung cancer.
(Source: National Cancer Institute) A newly announced study
conducted at Brigham Young University and New York University
indicates that long term exposure to air pollution in major US
cities significantly raises the risk of dying from lung cancer
and is about as dangerous as living with a smoker. (Source:
MSNBC News) "Although
cigarette smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer, other risk factors
include industrial exposures to agents such as asbestos,
arsenic, uranium, nickel, and chromates as well as exposures
to the indoor air pollutants such as formaldehyde and radon
gas. There are a significant number of patients who do not
have the risk factors outlined above. Lung cancer is not
necessarily a self-inflicted disease by smoking. The incidence
of lung cancer in women without a history of prior smoking has
increased in recent years. Histologic types of lung
cancer are different between smokers and non-smokers. The
majority of patients with no prior smoking have a histologic
type of adenocarcinoma as opposed to either squamous cell
carcinoma or small cell carcinoma, common in patients with
prior smoking. Estrogens are known to act as tumor promoters
through a receptor-mediated mechanism in reproductive organs.
There are some reports of estrogen receptor expression in lung
cancer, and it is possible that the lung is an
estrogen-responsive organ and that women are more susceptible
to lung cancer than men, suggesting a role for estrogen in the
development of this disease." (Source:
Noah C. Choi, M.D., Distinguished
Scholar in Thoracic Oncology, Director of MGH Thoracic
Oncology Center, Head
of Thoracic Oncology Unit, Massachusetts General
Hospital)
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- Lung
cancer research is substantially under funded as compared
to other cancers. In 1999, the national cancer institute estimated
that in 2000 it would spend only $950 per lung cancer death,
as compared to: $8,860 per breast cancer death $3,667 per
prostate cancer death $3,192 per colon cancer death. (Source:
National Cancer Institute)
"Funding
for lung cancer research has been grossly inadequate. Despite
claiming more lives than any other cancer, lung cancer
research receives comparatively little funding. The United
States government spent approximately $1,200 per lung cancer
death in 2002 on research, compared with: $11,425 for breast
cancer, $8,190 for prostate cancer, and $3,350 for colorectal
cancer. Approximately $31,000 was spent on research per
HIV/AIDS death in 2002. An estimated 170,000 Americans died of
lung cancer in 2002, compared to 20,000 deaths from
HIV-related causes. Without a significant increase in funding
for lung cancer research, the current trend of cancer death
will continue." (Source:
Noah C. Choi, M.D., Distinguished
Scholar in Thoracic Oncology, Director of MGH Thoracic
Oncology Center, Head of Thoracic Oncology Unit,
Massachusetts General Hospital)
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- The one
year survival rate for lung cancer was 41% in 1997, the last
year for which there is national data. This has not changed
in 10 years. The five year survival rate for all stages of
lung cancer combined is only 15%. This has not changed over
many years. For people whose cancer is found and treated early
with surgery, before it has spread to lymph nodes or other
organs, the average 5 year survival rate is about 48%. However,
only 15% of people with lung cancer are diagnosed at this
early stage. (Source American Cancer Society)
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- The following is excerpted from
Gender And Your Health, cbsnews.com, June 19, 2002.
Per this report, the following information was compiled
from several medical studies held from 2000-2002:
- Women smokers are 70 percent more
likely to develop lung cancer than men.
- Lung cancer is the leading cancer
killer of women.
For each cigarette smoked, the danger is twice as high for women.
- Researchers claim estrogen is what
makes women more vulnerable.
Even non-smokers who develop lung cancer are 2 1/2 times more
likely to be female than male.
- Estrogen may heighten the effects
of exposure to tobacco smoke and other substances linked to lung
cancer.
- Three-quarters of cancer patients
will survive at least five years if the tumor is caught at the
earliest stage; almost half will survive if it's caught before
growing beyond its local area.
- Only one in seven cancers are
detected that early, and most lung cancers attack more
aggressively and faster than other cancers.
- Symptoms often do not appear until
the lung tumor is large and sometimes not even until it has spread
to other parts of the body.
- Only 14 percent of lung cancer
patients survive for five years (down there with liver, esophageal
and pancreatic cancers)
- By comparison, the five-year
survival rate for breast cancer is 85 percent, prostate cancer 93
percent and skin cancer 88 percent.
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1 MSNBC Interview with Dr. Mark Kris
of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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