Improvement in Lung Cancer Mortality!!

For the first time in my career, we can no longer state that more people die from Lung Cancer than Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer combined. This is a huge accomplishment and is due to lung cancer screening, lung cancer research and improvements in smoking cessation.

Lung Cancer Screening reduces lung cancer mortality by 20 to 24%! People at risk (aged 50-80; smoked the equivalent of one pack per day for twenty years; smoked within the past 15 years) are screened by an annual low dose Chest CT scan (LDCT). Finding lung cancer early when it is curable is key.

Research in Lung Cancer has been highly successful in bringing immunotherapy and precision oncology medicines to the clinic. Immunotherapy unleashes the patient’s anti-tumor immune response against the tumor and has had remarkable effects. Precision Oncology Medicine identifies the genetic mutation primarily responsible for tumor growth and uses medicines that specifically target this mutation. Precision oncology is more effective and often causes less side effects.

Improvements in smoking cessation and prevention has seen rates of smoking decline to some of the lowest rates seen in decades. Continues awareness and improvements in assisting people in terms of freeing themselves from the nicotine addiction will continue to decrease the greatest risk factor for lung cancer.