Celebrating Black History Month!

To celebrate Black History Month, lets highlight the work of the US Veteran’s Administration on treating lung cancer in our nation’s veterans. Researchers at Washington University and the St Louis VA Medical Center, reviewed all veterans treated at VA Medical Centers from 2006 to 2016 with stage I non-small cell lung cancer. (Chest Volume 162, Issue 4, October 2022, Pages 920-929)

Stage I lung cancer is the earliest form of lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer is the predominant type of lung cancer (small cell lung cancer, carcinoids and sarcomas make up most of the rest). Stage I NSCLC can be cured by either surgery or stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

This work, published in the journal Chest, compared how Black and White veterans fared whilst receiving surgical treatment for their stage I lung cancer.

Black and White veterans treated at US Veteran’s Administration hospitals had equal numbers of surgery for curative intent via similar surgical techniques (minimally invasive, anatomic resections). An anatomic resection means the surgeon removed the tumor and the lung segments that housed the tumor to have the best chance of removing all of the tumor. During the time frame of this publication, this is considered the optimal surgery to perform.

The rates of time waiting for surgery, complications, and reoccurrence of the cancer were similar amongst both groups. The major difference seen is Blacks had a better overall survival than Whites.

Congratulations to the VA for effectively treating all veterans with stage I lung cancer!

‘Cause no one should die of lung cancer!