Jan 1, 2006

Smokers with Family history of Lung cancer should be Screened

Researchers are urging current and former smokers who have a strong family history of lung cancer to take a lung function test and undergo screening with spiral computed tomography (spiral CT scan). If the relative was diagnosed prior to age 50 special attention has to be given to screening.

These recommendations appear in an article on familial lung cancer in the recent issue American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

These authors emphasized that 85 to 95 percent of all lung cancers are attributable to cigarette smoking. The rate of lung cancer in the U.S. has dropped over the past two decades as a result of extraordinary personal and public health smoking cessation efforts. Yet, an estimated 46 million former smokers in America remain at risk for the disease, along with almost 49 million who continue to smoke. Consequently, further efforts need to be made to identify high-risk populations.

"Because cigarette smoking is such an overwhelming risk factor and preventable, the importance of family history and genetic susceptibility to lung cancer risk has been overlooked," said Dr. Schwartz.

She pointed out that individuals with a family history of lung cancer are at approximately a two- to threefold increased risk of developing the illness.

In one screening study, at least one first-degree relative had lung cancer in almost 14 percent of the 26,000 patients diagnosed with the disease.

Scott      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Janet      

Lung cancer
We engage a never-ending daily struggle to understand and defeat the hidden mysteries of cancer. This is a long and laborious fight, but some moments stand out as grim reminders of the severity of the problem and ruthlessness of the enemy. We recently heard about the sad demise of Peter Jennings, who was the news anchor of ABC News for a long time.