http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lung/lung-cancer-blog.html Lung cancer blog from medicineworld.org adds a personal touch to the stories related to lung cancer. This lung cancer blog brings you stories of hope, stories of survivors and latest news and research related to lung cancer. Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/blogs/lung-cancer/lung-cancer.jpg http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lung/lung-cancer-blog.html 116 72 http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/disorder-doubles-risk-of-lung-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/disorder-doubles-risk-of-lung-cancer.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Mayo Clinic scientists have observed that carrying a common genetic disorder doubles the risk of developing lung cancer in smokers and nonsmokers. The study is reported in the May 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a journal published by the American Medical Association. Scientists observed that the genetic disorder, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (1ATD), could explain up to about 12 percent of patients with lung cancer in this study and likely represents the same widespread risk in the general population. "This is a seriously underdiagnosed disorder and suggests that people who have lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) in their families should be screened for these gene carriers," says Ping Yang, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and lead investigator on the study........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/determining-genetic-signature-of-lung-tumors.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/5-2008/determining-genetic-signature-of-lung-tumors.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT The first U.S. clinical trial using genetic screening to identify lung tumors likely to respond to targeted therapies supports the use of those drugs as first-line therapy rather than after standard chemotherapy has failed. While the study led by Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers observed that upfront gefitinib (Iressa) therapy considerably improved the outcomes for non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC), additional research is mandatory before such a strategy can be used for routine therapy planning. The report appears in the May 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/mouth-may-tell-the-tale-of-lung-damage.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2008/mouth-may-tell-the-tale-of-lung-damage.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Cells lining the mouth reflect the molecular damage that smoking does to the lining of the lungs, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Examining oral tissue lining the mouth to gauge cancer-inducing molecular alterations in the lungs could spare patients and those at risk of lung cancer from more invasive, uncomfortable procedures used now, said senior researcher Li Mao, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/2-2008/pet-outperforms-ct-in-malignant-lung-nodules.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/2-2008/pet-outperforms-ct-in-malignant-lung-nodules.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Scientists involved in a large, multi-institutional study comparing the accuracy of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) in the characterization of lung nodules observed that PET was far more reliable in detecting whether or not a nodule was cancerous. "CT and PET have been widely used to characterize solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) as non-malignant or cancerous," said James W. Fletcher, professor of radiology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind. "Almost all prior studies examining the accuracy of CT for characterizing lung nodules, however, were performed more than 15 years ago with outdated technology and methods, and prior PET studies were limited by small sample sizes," he noted........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/1-2008/number-of-russian-women-smokers-has-doubled.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/1-2008/number-of-russian-women-smokers-has-doubled.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT In 1992, seven per cent of women smoked, in comparison to almost 15 per cent by 2003. In the same period, the number of men who smoke has risen from 57 per cent to 63 per cent. The scientists behind the study, reported in the journal Tobacco Control, blame the privatisation of the previously state owned tobacco industry and the behaviour of the transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) for what they describe as a "very worrying increase"........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/12-2007/diet-gardening-and-lung-cancer-risk.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/12-2007/diet-gardening-and-lung-cancer-risk.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT By simply eating four or more servings of green salad a week and working in the garden once or twice a week, smokers and nonsmokers alike may be able to substantially reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, say scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. "This is the first risk prediction model to examine the effects of diet and physical activity on the possibility of developing lung cancer," says Michele R. Forman, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Epidemiology. Forman presented study results at the American Association for Cancer Research "Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research" meeting Dec. 7 in Philadelphia, Pa. The data are from an ongoing M. D. Anderson case-control lung cancer study involving more than 3,800 participants. Separate epidemiologic risk assessment models were developed for current and former smokers as well as for those who have never smoked ("never smokers")........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/quit-rates-double-with-counseling.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/quit-rates-double-with-counseling.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Increasing the level of Quitline smoking cessation services and offering free nicotine patches are a successful and cost-effective way to reduce smoking rates, as per two new studies in the recent issue of Tobacco Control, a peer-evaluated publication of the British Medical Journal. Both studies were conducted by scientists at Kaiser Permanentes Center for Health Research in Portland, the Oregon Health Department, and Free and Clear in Seattle, a phone-based tobacco therapy program........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/pet-scanning-for-lung-cancer-staging.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/pet-scanning-for-lung-cancer-staging.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Positron emission tomography (PET) is a useful diagnostic tool that supports the need for more accurate staging of lung cancer and improved therapy for patients, concludes an extensive systematic review published online today in Journal of National Cancer Institute. The review conducted by the Lung Cancer Disease Site Group of Cancer Care Ontarios Program in Evidence-Based Care led by a Sunnybrook researcher, Dr. Yee Ung, evaluates the accuracy and utility of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose PET (18FDG-PET) in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/genomic-landscape-of-lung-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/genomic-landscape-of-lung-cancer.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT An international team of researchers has produced the most comprehensive view yet of the abnormal genetic landscape of lung cancer, the world's leading cause of cancer deaths. Appearing in the Nov. 4 advance online issue of Nature, the research reveals more than 50 genomic regions that are frequently gained or lost in human lung tumors........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/anti-smoking-strategy-targets-fourth-graders.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/anti-smoking-strategy-targets-fourth-graders.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT A smoking-prevention strategy that targets black fourth-graders and their parents is under study in urban and rural Georgia. Scientists want to know if they can keep these children from smoking and help smoking parents quit, as per Dr. Martha S. Tingen, nurse researcher at the Medical College of Georgia's Georgia Prevention Institute, and Interim Program Leader for Cancer Prevention and Control, MCG Cancer Center........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/gene-alterations-in-lung-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/11-2007/gene-alterations-in-lung-cancer.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT An international team of scientists, supported in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced that its systematic effort to map the genomic changes underlying lung cancer has uncovered a critical gene alteration not previously associated with any form of cancer. The research, reported in the advance online issue of the journal Nature, also revealed more than 50 genomic regions that are frequently gained or lost in lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer in the United States........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2007/personalized-treatment-for-nicotine-addiction.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/9-2007/personalized-treatment-for-nicotine-addiction.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Whether a smoking-cessation drug will enable you to quit smoking may depend on your genes, as per new genotyping research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study, reported in the recent issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry, observed that the enzyme known to metabolize both the smoking cessation drug bupropion and nicotine is highly genetically variable in all ethnicities and influences smoking cessation. This finding is a step toward being able to tailor smoking cessation therapy to individuals based on their unique genetic make-up........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2007/smokers-who-see-more-ads.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2007/smokers-who-see-more-ads.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT The more magazine ads smokers see for the nicotine patch and other quit-smoking aids, the more likely they are to try to quit smoking and be successful -- even without buying the products, finds a new Cornell study. "We believe that the reason may be that important 'spillover effects' from advertising may be occurring, which has important implications for advertising for a wide range of health products," said Alan Mathios, professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell and a co-author of the study, published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy and winner of best conference paper at the 2007 American Marketing Association's Public Policy and Marketing Conference, May 31-June 2, in Washington, D.C........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2007/chemotherapy-before-surgery.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/7-2007/chemotherapy-before-surgery.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Combining pre-operative chemotherapy and surgery increases the average chance of survival at five years by approximately 6% compared with surgery alone. This conclusion was drawn by a team of Cochrane Scientists from the MRC Clinical Trials Unit in London after they identified 12 eligible randomised controlled trials. Data from seven of these trials were available from trial reports and were combined in a meta-analysis. The seven trials involved a total of 988 patients........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/6-2007/tree-bark-for-new-lung-cancer-treatment.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/6-2007/tree-bark-for-new-lung-cancer-treatment.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined how a substance derived from the bark of the South American lapacho tree kills certain kinds of cancer cells, findings that also suggest a novel therapy for the most common type of lung cancer. The compound, called beta-lapachone, has shown promising anti-cancer properties and is currently being used in a clinical trial to examine its effectiveness against pancreas cancer in humans. Until now, however, scientists didn't know the mechanism of how the compound killed cancer cells........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/6-2007/lung-and-bladder-cancer-after-arsenic-exposure.html http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/6-2007/lung-and-bladder-cancer-after-arsenic-exposure.html Tue, 27 May 2008 01:53:55 GMT Arsenic exposure appears to continue causing lung and bladder cancer deaths years after exposure ends, as per a research studypublished online June 12 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Arsenic is a known cause of lung and bladder cancer, but scientists dont yet know how long cancer risk remains elevated after arsenic exposure. The drinking water in a region of northern Chile became contaminated with very high amounts of arsenic beginning in 1958. In the 1970s, construction of water therapy plants in the region led to a decline in arsenic concentration. This sudden rise and fall of arsenic levels gave scientists the opportunity to investigate the period between first and last exposure to high levels of arsenic and subsequent mortality due arsenic-related cancers, such as bladder and lung cancer........ ]]>