Battling Cancer

Resource post for December

Background

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The good news: Cancer is a hot topic nowadays in terms of media coverage. The bad news: it’s not always positive. This is according to a report by the not-for-profit organization CancerCare based on an independent analysis by CARMA International.

Media coverage of cancer has increased since 2004, the report said, and many of the reports are on cancer treatments and cancer research.

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November is International Lung Cancer Awareness Month. And I am greatly honored to start my post in this blog with this very relevant event.

During this month, all over the world, advocacy groups, medical associations and people from all walks of life are organizing activities with the aim of stepping up awareness about of lung cancer.

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These are the the promises of the Lung Cancer Alliance, the only national non-profit organization dedicated solely to patient support and advocacy for people living with lung cancer and people at risk for the disease.

Hall of Fame Orioles’ Shortstop, Cal Ripken, Jr. is the honorary spokesperson for the Lung Cancer Alliance, joining forces with the organization in the Face in the Fight campaign. Ripkin is working with the Alliance to help reverse the stigma surrounding the disease. It isn’t about blame but about support and compassion.

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WebMD today shared the results of an American Cancer Society research study that showed that the mortality incidence in men is higher than women in lung cancer among non smokers. While there are no clear answers as to why, the following information was noted:

• Men died more from lung cancer than did women in all age and racial groups studied.
• Women and men 40 years old and older had similar rates of lung cancer, when the figures were standardized.
• African-Americans — and Asians living in Korea and Japan — had higher death rates from lung cancer than did people of European extraction.
• There were no time trends seen when researchers compared lung cancer rates and death rates among U.S. women ages 40 to 69 during the 1930s to nonsmoking women of today’s population.
• Women in East Asia had higher and more variable lung cancer rates than did women in other areas of the world where women don’t smoke very much.

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Welcome to the weekend!  Grab a hot cup of coffee, and read the newest research developments in cancer this month in your pajamas:

Actually, make that a steaming mug of the herbal stuff:  Gloria over at Cancer Commentary (and of course, Battling Arthritis)  has more information on how to enroll in a green tea prostate cancer prevention study going on right now at Moffit Cancer Center.

Check out her post at “Moffit is Looking for Green Tea Study Participants.”

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Here’s a quick glance at a few interesting cancer research studies that have come out recently, edited here for your weekend reading pleasure — enjoy!

Transplanting killer cells into cancer patients: Apparently, there are some people just aren’t prone to getting cancer due to a higher than normal healthy stock of immune system soldiers called granulocytes. Wake Forest University-based Dr. Zheng Cuit and his colleagues are looking to see if they can transplant some of those natural born killer cells into cancer patients — um, as long as it’s not flu season.

Average cancer-killing ability appeared to be lower in adults over the age of 50 and even lower in people with cancer. It also fell when people were stressed, and at certain times of the year.

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I know that I’m not saying anything new with this post, but after reading an recent article answering the question “Did the Marlboro Man Die of Lung Cancer?”, I had to wonder if there was anyone else out there aware of the sharp, poetic irony associated with the death of not one, but two men who played the role of the Marlboro Man in ads for Marlboro cigarettes. Didn’t they get the memo that smoking is bad?

To be fair, at least thirteen men have played the Marlboro Man throughout the years and only two have died of lung cancer: Wayne McClaren in 1992, and David McClean in 1995. And also to be fair, at the time these gentlemen began their stints on the Marlboro Man ad campaign, cigarettes were not yet associated with a high risk of cancer development and more importantly, smoking was supposed to be cool.

Fortunately, times have changed, and we are now fully aware of the deadly risks associated with tobacco use and cancer. A quick search on the American Cancer Society web site states that smoking is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths in the US alone, and that tobacco use accounts for about 30% of all cancer deaths and 87% of all lung cancer deaths.

Anyway, back to the whole Marlboro Man ad campaign: what a racket that was! That was quite possibly the most genius ad campaign ever conceived. What woman has not dreamed of a rough and rugged cowboy, noticeable stubble enhancing an unbelievably handsome-as-sin face, wearing chaps and riding up on a stallion complete with a saddle made for two? This was a brilliant advertising strategy. Who cares if this guy is lighting up? He’s smoking hot! (Okay, that was bad — I admit it.) More →

By Ajishnu Sharma

General Information on Lung Cancer

Lung cancer, or carcinoma of the lung, is one of the most common forms of cancer today. It is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related mortality in the United States today. In the United States, another form of cancer that is becoming increasingly common is breast cancer, which is the development of malignant tissue in the breast. Breast cancer is seen mostly in women, though this does not mean that men are immune to it. A small percentage of men too contract breast cancer. The numbers are small, 1 man with breast cancer against a 100 women with it, but its there. However, there is one major difference between breast cancer and lung cancer. One can see the symptoms of breast cancer at an early stage, while in the case of lung cancer, the symptoms are not detected early, primarily because they match the symptoms of other lesser ailments. In this article, we will discuss lung cancer.

A person is said to suffer from lung cancer when a growth of malignant cancer cells is detected in the lungs. Depending on the stage at which lung cancer is detected, it can be classified as being in the:

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By David Silva

Unlike other forms of lung cancer, metastatic lung cancer is the result of a cancer from another part of the body spreading to the lungs. When a malignancy develops in the body (most often in the breasts, colon, prostate, or bladder, though almost all cancers have the ability to spread) it can sometimes spread through the blood stream. When these malignancies settle into the pulmonary tissues, such as the alveoli (the final vein-like branches of the respiratory system) and the supporting tissues of the respiratory structures, the cancer has metastasized to the lungs.

Unfortunately, treating metastatic lung cancer presents significant challenges. Since the cancer has spread from another part of the body, treatment not only involves addressing the cancer in the lungs, but also the original cancer and any other areas of the body that may have also become affected. In some cases, if the primary tumor is successfully removed and if the spread of the tumor cells to the pulmonary regions is relatively localized, then the management of the cancer by surgical techniques may do the job. However, if the metastatic lung cancer is extensive, because so many areas of the body may be under the influence of the cancer, certain treatments (such as surgery, and in many cases, radiation therapy as well) may prove ineffective. Which leaves most patients with chemotherapy as the primary treatment of choice.

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