My father was just diagnosed with lung cancer. Cigarette smoking is by far the single greatest risk factor for lung cancer, which will cause nearly 160,000 deaths this year. Current smokers are at highest risk, but lung cancer does occur in former smokers even years after they have quit. Research is urgently needed to determine how to decrease the risk of tobacco-related cancers in former smokers, who now number nearly 50 million. Research also is needed to find these cancers when they are small and curable.
Lung cancers can occur in people who have never used tobacco.
We found out about a clinical trial of a new treatment for people with the kind of lung cancer my father has the early results look promising. Treatment for both major types of lung cancer small cell and non-small cell remains extremely difficult, but we are achieving modest incremental improvements. Advances in combination chemotherapy and radiation regimens have played the most significant role in treating small cell lung cancers, while refined surgical techniques have been most important in improving the outlook for some patients with early non-small cell lung cancer. Other advances may be on the horizon. Early study results suggest that photodynamic therapy the use of lasers and light-activated drugs to kill tumors may hold promise for certain groups of patients with early lung cancers and for some patients who cannot withstand surgery.