Vim & Vigor - Fall 2018 - Parrish Medical Center - 19

Other Causes of
Lung Cancer

The second-leading cause of lung
cancer is secondhand smoke. Living
with a smoker or being exposed to
secondhand smoke at work raises an
individual's risk of developing lung
cancer between 20 and 30 percent,
according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. But even brief
exposure can increase risk, albeit by a
small amount.
Another risk factor for lung cancer
is harder to detect: Radon gas is invisible, odorless and naturally occurring.
It forms as uranium and radium decay
in the ground and exists in low levels
in air everywhere. But about 1 in 15
homes in the U.S. has unsafe levels of
radon gas, and radon is responsible
for an estimated 15,000 to 22,000 lung
cancer deaths per year.
Other exposure-based risks include
working around asbestos, airborne
chemicals and diesel fuel; air pollution; and previous radiation therapy
to the lungs.
Genetics also play a role.
"A small percentage of families have
a genetic mutation called T790M,"
Walia says. "If you have this mutation, there is a very high likelihood
that you will develop lung cancer in
your lifetime."

Limited Screening
Guidelines

What makes lung cancer so deadly is
it's often diagnosed at later stages,
when the cancer has already metastasized-that is, spread to other parts
of the body.
Only in the last five years has the
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
recommended annual lung cancer
screening for high-risk patients using
low-dose CT scans. The task force
defines high-risk patients as smokers
or former smokers with a smoking
history of 30 pack years. Thirty pack
years means smoking a pack a day

for 30 years or two packs per day for
15 years.
There are currently no screening
guidelines for nonsmokers. It's best to
talk to your doctor about your individual risk. People with strong family
histories of lung cancer may want to
meet with a genetic counselor about
being tested for T790M.

Know the Signs

Because lung cancer screening is still
in its infancy, it's important to familiarize yourself with the early symptoms of the disease.
Cough that doesn't go away
Coughing up blood
Chest pain that's worse with
coughing or laughing
Hoarseness
Shortness of breath
Persistent bronchitis or
pneumonia
New wheezing
Walia recommends mentioning lung
cancer when talking to your healthcare
team about your symptoms.
"Tell your doctor about any symptoms, like persistent cough, shortness
of breath and fever that's not going
away," she says. "And bring up the
possibility of lung cancer, because it's
certainly possible your doctor isn't
thinking lung cancer if you don't have
obvious risk factors."
The sooner you can get a diagnosis,
the better off you'll be. ■

ONE SIZE
DOESN'T
FIT ALL
Whether you're a smoker or not,
lung cancer is lung cancer, right?
Not exactly.
"Lung cancer in smokers is different
from lung cancer in those who have
never smoked," says Cecil Robertson,
MD, a hematologist/oncologist at
Parrish Cancer Center.
Because smokers are exposed to
more carcinogens in cigarettes than
nonsmokers, more of their genes are
altered, whereas nonsmokers might
have one or two mutated genes driving
their cancer.
With differences at the cellular level,
lung cancer in nonsmokers must be
treated differently from lung cancer
in smokers.
"Immunotherapy-drugs that use
a person's immune system to destroy
cancer cells-may be the better
option to treat lung cancer in smokers,
because their genes look abnormal to
their immune system and are easily
targeted," Dr. Robertson says. "For
nonsmokers, targeted chemotherapy
tends to be better, because their
genes don't look as abnormal to their
immune system."
Researchers are rapidly improving
both types of drug therapy.
"There have been more drugs
approved for lung cancer in the past
few years than over the past few
decades," Dr. Robertson says.

APPOINTMENTS

If You Smoke, Call Us for This Test
Are you a current or former smoker? Or exposed to secondhand smoke
or cancer-causing agents? Call Parrish Medical Center at 321-268-6150,
Monday through Friday, to ask about a low-dose CT lung screening.

FALL 2018

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