A Total No Brainer

People facing cancer are naturally concerned about what the future holds. Strange then that the most common cause of one of the most lethal cancers of all, lung cancer, is generally of peoples own doing and pretty well avoidable.

Nine out of ten people who develop lung cancer are smokers and the bad news is that the diagnoses of lung cancer are rising. Whilst some rare types of lung cancer are not related to smoking, most certainly are directly attributable, and the figures for survival rates from lung cancer are poor throughout the world.

The two main types of lung cancer are small cell and nonsmall cell, and patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survive for variable lengths of time, even when adjustment is made for the pathological stage. Each and every year, 31000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in the UK, whilst lung and prostate cancer are the top cancer killers for men in the United States.

Want more scary news? Only 1 in every 10 people with lung cancer are alive 5 years after diagnosis, and for reasons not yet well understood, a greater proportion of women who develop lung cancer are non-smokers compared to men who get the disease.

Now, a new study finds tobacco may act as an environmental trigger for patients with an inherited genetic predisposition to pancreatic cancer.

Treatment for any cancer will depend on the type of cancer; the size, location, and stage of the disease; the person's general health; and other factors. Nanotechnology promises new methods for noninvasive treatment of cancer with minimal side effects.

While we can't do anything about risk factors that are out of our control, it's been shown that all aspects of our daily lifestyle can have a huge impact on cancer risk. Stopping smoking greatly reduces a person's risk for developing lung cancer, whilst exposure to tobacco smoke clearly multiplies the risk of developing lung cancer.

It's a no brainer, really. Stop smoking and increase your chances of a long and enjoyable life!