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Progress, but lung cancer still alarms

Discussion in 'The Thailand Quit Smoking Discussion' started by Vaper, Oct 20, 2012.

  1. Vaper

    Vaper Thread Starter Member

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    Lung cancer is the first cause of cancer deaths in both men and women worldwide.

    In most countries, it ranks third or fourth in terms of cancer occurrence, but is more deadly than the three most common cancers combined (breast, prostate and colon). Lung cancer, like many other cancers, has one main culprit: smoking.

    In the US alone, 160,000 people die from lung cancer every year. In Thailand among males, lung cancer is the second-most common cause of cancer after liver cancer and the fourth cause after cervical, breast and liver cancer among females.

    The continued prevalence of smoking and poor prognosis of this cancer explain the gloomy mortality figures. In a large survey conducted from 1995 to 2001 in the US, the five-year relative survival rate was 15.7 per cent when considering all stages of lung cancer combined. However, like most cancers, the survival rate largely depends on the stage when it is discovered and varies after 5 years from 2 per cent in most advanced tumours to 49 per cent in early diagnosis of a localised small growth.

    The foremost issue regarding lung cancer is its insidious expansion without provoking any symptoms and its ability to disseminate cancerous cells distant from the primary tumour (metastasis). Symptoms often occur when the cancerous mass has already invaded the nearby tissues or infiltrated some lymph nodes surrounding the windpipe or the bronchi.

    Symptoms may include a persistent and more severe cough (not easy to notice for the long-time smoker due to existing chronic cough), shortness of breath or wheezing, excessive fatigue with unexpected weight loss and repeated pulmonary infections. More typical symptoms are the coughing of blood (hemoptysis) or chest pain during deep breaths, which may well signify a lung tumour if the patient is a smoker.

    A smoker or past smoker who has any of the above-mentioned symptoms should promptly see a medical practitioner. As the clinical signs may appear several years after the start of the cancer, it is possible to diagnose a lung cancer during a check-up from a routine chest X-ray.

    Besides the physical exam and some blood tests, the procedure to confirm the presence of lung cancer includes a chest CT scan and the biopsy of the growth. Pathologic analysis of the tumour allows determination of the cancer cellular type and also its genetic features (so-called tumour mutation analysis) that are useful to evaluate the expected efficacy of new molecularly targeted therapy.

    Nowadays, specialised lung cancer centres benefit from a minimally invasive technique to collect specimens from the tumour site known as the Endo-Bronchial Ultrasound guided Trans-Bronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) technique. It is performed under light anaesthesia within a few minutes. It allows the identification of the tumour type and possibly the infiltrated lymph nodes.

    The type of cancerous cell is one of the major determinants of treatment options and prognosis. There are two main types of lung cancers based on the dimension characteristics of the abnormal cells, the small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

    The SCLC accounts for 10 per cent of lung cancers and is strongly associated with smoking. It is a fast-developing cancer that quickly spreads to other organs of the body and has the worst prognosis of lung cancers. Due to its aggressive nature, this cancer has only two stages - "limited", which means still confined to initial tumour location and "extensive", which means that the cancerous cells have already reached the other lung or other organs.

    The "Non-Small" type or NSCLC accounts for 90 per cent of the cases. Because its development is slower than the SCLC, its staging has many grades depending on its expansion upon diagnosis (from 0 to IV).

    Overall treatment modalities of lung cancers will be discussed in the next article on October 23.



    Professor Sawang Saenghirunvattana, is Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary Diseases Centre at Bangkok Hospital. He can be contacted at sawang.sa@bgh.co.th.

    Dr Gerard Lalande is managing director of CEO-Health, which provides medical referrals for expatriates and customised executive medical check-ups in Thailand. He can be contacted at gerard.lalande@ceo-health.com.


    Progress, but lung cancer still alarms - The Nation
     
  2. -V-
    Cool

    -V- Administrator Staff Member

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    I wonder how vaping instead of smoking will help this...
     
  3. fruit-lover
    Cheerful

    fruit-lover Well-Known Member

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    I'm wondering why you posted this on a vaping forum?
     
  4. ryanmacl

    ryanmacl Well-Known Member

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    I'm guessing because we all (I assume) used to smoke, so we're all still pretty high risk for lung cancer.
     
  5. Merangue
    Confused

    Merangue Active Member

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    According to stop smoking websites etc. You can expect the following once you stop smoking ( and this includes by vaping )


    • 2 weeks to 3 months
    Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.

    • 3 weeks to 3 months
    Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared. If not, get seen by a doctor, and sooner
    if at all concerned, as a chronic cough can be a sign of lung cancer.

    • 8 weeks
    Insulin resistance in smokers has normalized despite average weight gain of 2.7 kg (1997 study).

    • 1 to 9 months
    Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath has decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs, thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus,
    keep your lungs clean and reduce infections. Your body's overall energy has increased.

    • 1 year
    Your excess risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.

    • 5 years
    Your risk of a subarachnoid haemorrhage has declined to 59% of your risk while still smoking (2012 study). If a female ex-smoker, your risk of developing diabetes is
    now that of a non-smoker (2001 study).

    • 5 to 15 years
    Your risk of stroke has declined to that of a non-smoker.

    • 10 years
    Your risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer is between 30% and 50% of that for a continuing smoker (2005 study). Risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost
    half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day). Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas have declined. Risk of developing diabetes for both
    men and women is now similar to that of a never-smoker (2001 study).

    • 13 years
    The average smoker who is able to live to age 75 has 5.8 fewer teeth than a non-smoker (1998 study). But by year 13 after quitting, your risk of smoking induced tooth
    loss has declined to that of a never-smoker (2006 study).

    • 15 years
    Your risk of coronary heart disease is now that of a person who has never smoked. Your risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker
    (2011 study - but note 2nd pancreatic study making identical finding at 20 years).

    • 20 years
    Female excess risk of death from all smoking related causes, including lung disease and cancer, has now reduced to that of a never-smoker (2008 study). Risk of pancreatic
    cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker (2011 study).


    Now I am not sure on the 20 year thing with men and lung cancer but I am making the assumption that our risk will have reduced to close that of a never smoker.
     
  6. fruit-lover
    Cheerful

    fruit-lover Well-Known Member

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    I love you, man.

    THAT is the kind of post I want to read about.

    The benefits of vaping/ not smoking.

    This has made me feel good about being a vaper and not worrying about the damages that I ahve caused myself from smoking all those years.


    Positive reinforcement is the way to go..

    Cheers
     
  7. oil
    Bitching

    oil Custom What?

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    Well there can not be any doubt that vaping puts much less poison in the lungs, and even thou tar is the most known one its by far not the most dangerous one, its odd but the fact that radioactive pollonium 110 is a major thing in tabacco smoke is barely mentioned. As a matter of fact the intake of radioactive material while smoking is much higher then the allowed levels for workers at nuclear power plant.
     

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