Lung Cancer Awareness Week will be held November 12 through 18 to educate the public about lung cancer, the importance of early detection and screening, new treatment advances, and survivorship. Local educational seminars for patients, their families and health care professionals will be held prior to and during Lung Cancer Awareness Week to raise awareness about the disease and promote the latest research findings.
Lung cancer is a stigmatized disease that is often diagnosed in the late stages.
New screening methods are being developed to help detect lung cancer in the early stages of disease. The use of new treatment regimens has helped increase lung cancer survival rates significantly over the past several decades. An estimated 164,100 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2000, accounting for 14 percent of cancer diagnoses. Lung cancer will claim the lives of an estimated 156,900 men and women this year, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths. Partners Lung Cancer Awareness Week 2000 is conducted through a partnership among Cancer Care, the Oncology Nursing Society and The Wellness Community and is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.