By Dr. Amanda May, oncologist
MCG Health System

More than 80 percent of lung cancers are preventable with one simple act-not picking up that first cigarette.

Lung cancer is the number-one cancer killer in the country and the number-one cause of lung cancer is smoking. At highest risk are smokers or past smokers 60 and older; those with previous lung tumors; and those who suffer from chronic pulmonary disease (emphysema, chronic bronchitis, chronic asthma and other types of lung disease).

While research is ongoing for testing that can more effectively screen for early signs of lung cancer, such as low-dose CT scans, recent advances have been made in the treatment of lung cancer. The FDA has recently approved several new drugs for advanced lung cancers where surgery is not an option. These drugs offer additional options for patients who could not tolerate or were not responding to past drugs.

One challenge for physicians has been the high rate of reoccurrence of lung cancer. Another new recommendation is adjudant chemotherapy treatment, or a course of chemotherapy given after lung cancer has been removed surgically. Surgery has been the standard treatment for lung cancer. This additional chemotherapy treatment is believed to improve and reduce rates of reoccurrence of cancer by affecting microscopic disease or by affecting cells that may be in a precancerous stage.

Another new therapy that has recently been approved is targeted therapy, but results in practice may not be as promising as they proved during study. These drugs target a certain receptor in cancer cells that are not present in normal cells. However, recent findings indicate that patients may feel better on the program but whether or not they actually improve the lung cancer has not been shown.

Even with medical science moving toward better treatment options, the preferred choice is prevention. Doctors continue to advise patients not to smoke and if they do smoke, to explore options to help them quit. Risk of lung cancer begins to drop five years after quitting and continues to drop to almost normal the longer a person remains a non-smoker.

MCG Health System is composed of three separate organizations -- MCG Health, Inc. and the clinical services offered by the faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the members of the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation. The physicians of MCG Health System are community physicians, faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia, or employees of the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation, not employees of MCG Health, Inc. MCG Health, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCG Medical Center, MCG Children’s Medical Center, the MCG Sports Medicine Center, MCG Ambulatory Care Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center and related clinical facilities and services. MCG Health, Inc. was formed to support the research and education mission of the Medical College of Georgia and to build the economic growth of the CSRA, the state of Georgia and the Southeast by providing an environment for faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation and community physicians to deliver the highest level of primary and specialty health care. For more information, please visit www.MCGHealth.org.