New treatments, screenings improve our odds in the battle against cancer
The fight against cancer gets better every day with new treatments and better screenings. “In the last year alone, new treatments have been discovered that prolong survival with several cancers, including cancer of the pancreas, prostate, skin (melanoma), lymph nodes and bone (myeloma),” says Dr. Brian Walker, a board-certified oncologist with the Cancer Care Center.“We’re also tailoring therapies for many cancers and getting better outcomes.” For example, he said, five years ago, most lung cancer was treated the same way. “These days, we are able to separate types of lung cancer and are tailoring therapy based on the type of lung cancer with better results.”
Physicians test for specific proteins in the tumor and have new drugs to combat lung cancer depending on the test results. “We know, for example, that treating Adenocarcinoma of the lung will get better results with the new chemotherapy drug, pemetrexed.”
“Lung cancer is still our most lethal cancer,” Dr. Walker said. About 225,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year; while about 150,000 people die of lung cancer each year. Colon cancer, the second highest cause of cancer mortality, kills 50,000 people a year — a high number, certainly, but still far below lung cancer deaths.
While colon cancer deaths are decreasing because more people get colonoscopy screenings to check for colon cancer, most lung cancer patients don’t get diagnosed until the cancer is in advanced stages.
As with most cancers, Dr. Walker explained, lung cancer has four stages: Stage 1, when a solitary cancer nodule is found, usually by accident; Stage 2, when the cancer mass is larger; Stage 3, when the lung cancer has moved to the lymph nodes; and Stage 4, when the lung cancer has moved outside of the initial lung to the second lung or other parts of the body.
One study of 53,000 people who had smoked at least one pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years showed that those who had a CAT scan had a 20 percent less chance of dying of lung cancer, largely because the cancer was caught in earlier stages.
Since lung cancer is largely found in people who still smoke despite the well known association with causing lung cancer, there will be a debate as to who should pay for the CAT scan, said Dr. Walker.
“Insurance companies and taxpayers, for example, often pick up the expense of a colonoscopy, PAP smear or mammogram, but should they pick up the expense for a CAT scan in a person who continues to smoke?”
The first step to preventing cancer is to live a healthy lifestyle, such as, obviously not smoking or not exposing your skin to too much ultraviolet light.
“Screening for cancer is the next best way,” said Dr. Walker. “A screening test is for someone who is healthy. To be accepted, the screening should be cost effective, reliable and safe and make a difference in detecting cancer and cancer outcomes.
Screenings certainly have made a big dent in the number of people who die of cancer. “Cervical cancer is the poster child for the benefits of screening. The mortality rate from cervical cancer dropped dramatically when women started getting routine PAP smears.”
The PAP smear, which became an accepted screening in the 1950s, was easy, reliable and cheap and decreased deaths from cervical cancer.
Other accepted screenings today include the colonoscopy for colon cancer and self breast exams and mammograms for breast cancer.
Even with better screenings and the warnings of living a healthier lifestyle, people still smoke, still don’t get annual PAP smears or routine colonoscopies or expose their skin to too much sun or go to tanning beds, Dr. Walker says. “Some people are just in denial, thinking it won’t happen to them.”